Parental Reaction
by RedHal
Summary: This was going to be a chapter in Memories, but it was too long. This shows Harry telling Lily, James, Remus, and Sirius his story of the past 4 years at Hogwarts. Goes with Sirius' Potion Mistake.
1. Prologue

A/N: This was originally going to be a chapter in Memories, but I discovered it would be too long. So, it's its own little story. This is when Harry tells his parents, godfather, and Remus about his years at Hogwarts. There will be a chapter for each year.

I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER

**Prologue**

Harry was attempting to work on his Polyjuice Potion assignment when his eyes turned back to his godfather's letter. He re-read the Post Script again:

_P.S. No. I'm not losing it. I really did mean Prongs and Mrs. Prongs._

Harry shook his head. Despite what it said, he knew his godfather had gone over the cliff Azkaban pushed him to. Prongs and Mrs. Prongs were his parents. They were dead, and they were NEVER coming back. Dumbledore said so himself: _No spell can reawaken the dead_.

(A/N: but that doesn't mean potion)

Harry had so many questions though: How would his mother kill Sirius, and his father tell Dumbledore about Harry's strange feeling if they were dead? Why was Hedwig looking at him funny? And wasn't the Sirius-serious joke old? Surely Sirius used it all the time in school.

"BOY! GET UP NOW!"

Harry sat the quill down and went downstairs.

0000

Harry was in the middle of eating breakfast at the Dursley's when the doorbell rang.

"Boy! Get that!" his uncle demanded.

"Yes Uncle Vernon." Harry told him. _Just two more weeks_. He added to himself as he saw his cousin grab his half of grapefruit.

He noticed Uncle Vernon motion to Dudley. Harry knew that the two were going to sneak out for the day.

When Harry reached the door, he opened it to reveal a man, a woman, and a HUGE, black, grim-like dog. There was something odd about these visitors.

Harry took a good look at these visitors and noticed that their eyes were very familiar. The man's hazel eyes looked like something Harry saw in a dream numerous times. As for the woman's, well, they looked extremely familiar.

_Where have I seen those eyes before?_

He then turned his attention to the dog on the leash. It looked ridiculously like his godfather's animagus form, but it couldn't be Sirius. Sirius was "gathering the old crowd" as Dumbledore had put it.

Harry and the dog looked into each other's eyes. The eyes were definitely Sirius Black's, but…there was something else in them. They looked more like the eyes in the picture of Sirius at James and Lily's wedding. The something else was happiness.

_Sirius?_ Harry mouthed barely moving his lips in case the other humans could read lips.

The dog gave a very tiny nod.

"Hi Snuffles." Harry greeted his godfather using the fake name just in case these people thought Sirius Black was a murderer. He turned to the human visitors "I'm sorry. Do I know you?"

"Better than you think." The redheaded man said with mixed emotions welling in his eyes. Harry saw fear, pride, joy, sadness, awe, and a small touch of anger.

"Boy! Who is it?" Petunia said as she entered the foyer.

"Is that anyway to treat your nephew?" the woman asked.

_How does this woman know I'm her nephew?_ Harry thought to himself in shock. It wasn't like the Dursley's bragged about him. They had even kept his existence secret from most of their friends.

"How do you know he's my nephew?" Petunia snapped.

"May we enter?" the man asked.

"Not with that animal." Petunia snapped starring at Snuffles

"Very well. Snuffles. Sit." The man ordered.

"Snuffles" sat.

"Stay."

The dog sat still while the couple walked in.

"I know how you feel about magic in public." The woman told Petunia as she pulled out her wand and taped herself while her husband did the same.

Petunia and Harry stood gaping as the man's hair shortened in length and became jet black while the woman's hair just changed color as she grew in height a few inches. Her hair had gone from a bright blond, to a stunning red.

After the transformations, Harry gaped at the couple. He then realized where he had seen the woman's eyes before: the last time he looked at his reflection. He spent most of his time, however, starring at what looked like an older version of himself.

The couple now looked like older versions of the pictures of his parents. But, it couldn't be. Lily and James Potter had been killed by Voldemort the same way Cedric Diggory had been killed a month ago. Cedric wasn't coming back and neither were either of his parents.

But the happiness that lurked in Sirius' eyes haunted Harry. The guilt was still there, but it wasn't as apparent. Harry had told Sirius numerous times that he didn't blame him for what had happened. However, the last time Harry saw Sirius, the guilt was clear as day. Harry knew that the only way how the guilt would subside almost completely was if James and Lily themselves told Sirius they didn't blame him.

Basically, every clue was pointing to the fact that these two people were indeed his parents.

"But you're dead." Harry heard Petunia whispered.

"Not anymore Petunia. James' friend made a mistake with a potion and we're back now. We came to get Harry." Lily said before turning to her shocked son.

Harry was doing a perfect imitation of a goldfish. It seemed so fake, and yet so real. When James snapped out of seeing his grown up son, he smirked.

"Please don't tell me if you became an animagus you'd become a goldfish." James teased earning himself a poke in the ribs and a glare from his wife.

This seemed to snap Harry out of his trance.

"Mum? Dad?"

They nodded. Petunia fainted.

Harry was in shock.

"But. How?"

"You can blame that mutt of a godfather of yours." James said motioning to the door. "Apparently, he was trying to call our ghosts, but something went wrong."

Harry didn't know what to do. Just last month, he witnessed an innocent person get killed and then saw the shadows of Cedric, an old man from one of his dreams, Bertha Jorkins, and his parents. Now James and Lily were standing here in front of him alive and well.

The teen felt his emotions go haywire. He wanted nothing more than to feel his parents' arms around him. His emotions finally got the best of him and, before he knew what he was doing, he ran to his parents and enveloped them in a tight hug sobbing thirteen years worth of sobs. It wasn't until he had his arms around his mother and father that he realized exactly how much he missed them.

_So that's what Sirius meant in his letter_

"I think you should get your things Harry." Lily told him a few minutes later.

Harry didn't want to let go. He had his parents back and he WASN'T going to loose them again. But, he knew his mother was right.

"Alright Mum." Harry said before dashing off to his room drying his tears.

"Enervate." Lily said pointing her wand at her sister.

0000

When Harry got back up to his room, he started to throw things in his trunk. He hadn't felt so alive since…since he was held up by the twins as he showed off the golden egg. At the moment he had heard his fellow Gryffindors cheer for him, he knew he could survive the tournament.

Of course, he had been dropped when he opened the egg, and his best friend hadn't been talking to him at the time. The equivalent was when his eyes fell on Ron's letter.

Ron had invited Harry over to the Burrow for the rest of the summer. Harry enjoyed it there. Mrs. Weasley loved him like a seventh son (eight child); Fred and George had started talking a LOT about the Marauders since Harry's third year; Ron had stated that Bill and Charlie were at home; and then there was Ginny.

Ginny. The redheaded girl had been haunting Harry's thoughts about as much as Voldemort's resurrection. Whenever Harry started to think about Cho Chang, the Ravenclaw's oriental face would fade into his best friend's younger sister. Deep down, Harry knew Ginny was off limits because of Ron. But, maybe Ron wouldn't mind.

Harry grabbed a quill and wrote to his two best friends to let them know that he was leaving the Dursley's early. When he finished, he finished packing.

0000

Harry started to drag the trunk down the stairs when he heard his father say,

"Here. Let me help you with that." His father said at the foot of the stairs. "Wingardium Leviosa."

The trunk and cage floated down the stairs.

"Your mother could probably do it better." James admitted.

"So I've heard." Harry said as he came down the stairs empty handed. (His wand was in his pocket)

"Are you alright Harry?" his father asked a little worried.

"Yeah. Just overwhelmed."

"I can understand that. You finally have your parents back. And everything is going to be alright now." James said while putting an arm around Harry's shoulders

"Thanks Dad. Where are Mum and Aunt Petunia?"

"In the kitchen discussing things. I still say we put spells all over the house."

"When I first found out that I was a wizard, Hagrid gave Dudley a pig's tail." Harry said grinning at the memory.

His dad gave him a look.

"Long story."

"Well, we'll have plenty of time to hear it later."

Just then, Lily came out of the kitchen in a fury.

"Let's go." She snapped as she changed back into the blond.

"Rule Number One, Harry." James told his son turning a bit pale "Is to NEVER get Mum angry."

"I'll make a note of it."

James transformed back into the redheaded man and rolled Harry's trunk out the door. Poor Sirius was being dragged next door by Lily.

"Why are we going to Mrs. Figgs?" Harry asked when he realized where they were going.

"Didn't you know? That's how we're getting to Remus' place. She's a squib."

This was news to Harry.

"Really?"

"Yeah. She was sent by Dumbledore to spy on you."

"How well informed of the situation are you?" It was Harry's turn to pale a little

"Depends on how much there is to know. We know that Sirius went after Peter and was thrown in Azkaban for 12 years. We also know about the fact that you lived with the Dursleys. Dumbledore informed us about Mrs. Figg before we came to get you. We also know about Snape."

Harry really paled at this.

"Don't worry. We won't do anything he doesn't deserve. We'll start on a clean slate. If Sirius and I pull something, it's because he deserved it."

"Wait. You and Sirius? You're coming to Hogwarts?" Harry asked hoping it was true. It didn't seem fair that he would spend a little over a month with his newly revived parents.

"Of course. Oh. I will be needing my cloak though."

"It's in the trunk." Harry said as they caught up with Lily who had just rung the doorbell.

"Hello Harry." Mrs. Figg said when she answered the door. "Albus said to expect you four soon."

"Why didn't you tell me before?" Harry asked his old babysitter.

"About you being a wizard? I wanted to, but the right people at the time to tell you would be your aunt and uncle. Otherwise, you would never believe me."

Harry thought about that for a minute. It was true that he didn't believe Hagrid at first.

"It's alright Mrs. Figg. I understand."

"Thank you. Now. Albus gave me enough floo powder for you four. Don't worry Mr. Black. I won't turn you in to the authorities."

"Thank you Arabella." Sirius said after he transformed.

Lily went first

"Remus's place" she said as she sprinkled the powder on herself after stepping into the fireplace.

The men followed.

0000

When Harry landed in Remus' cottage, he was swept into a tight hug from Sirius.

"Isn't it wonderful Harry?" Sirius asked in a whisper. "Now you can really get to know your parents."

"I know." Harry said returning the hug. "Thanks Padfoot. Thank you so much."

"What's wrong Lily?" James asked trying to calm his wife down.

"You wouldn't believe what that…that…UGH!" she yelled in frustration.

"Would help if I knew what you were talking about." James told her.

"Now you know how I felt after your first date with Lils." Sirius teased him.

"I thought I heard you come in." Remus said entering the room. "Hello Harry."

"Hello." Harry greeted.

He knew Remus didn't like to be called "Professor", and Harry wasn't yet comfortable with "Remus" or "Moony" yet.

Remus saw an angry Lily and took a step back. Sirius saw the reaction and chuckled

Harry was almost frightened. He just met her and his mother was angry.

"It's not you." Sirius whispered. "It's her sister."

Lily was taking deep breaths as she told her husband, "Did you look around that place?"

"Yes?"

"Did you notice that there were no pictures of Harry?"

"Yes. I was hoping they were somewhere else in the house."

Remus and Sirius snorted.

"Probably IN the fireplace." Sirius stated.

"Wishful thinking huh?" James asked.

"Very wishful." Remus said.

"You're better off wishing Snivillus would wash his hair." Sirius stated.

Harry looked confused.

"Professor Snape." Remus said.

James shivered in horror. He still couldn't get over that greasy hair git was teaching.

"Harry?" Lily asked. "Have you informed your godfather and Remus where your bedroom was before Hogwarts?"

"No ma'am." Harry said avoiding the confused looks of the Marauders and his mother. "She told you?"

"Yes." Lily said as she walked over to her son and gave him a tight hug. "She also told me how she lied to you about your heritage and how we died."

"She didn't!" James exclaimed.

Lily nodded. Harry returned the hug.

"We supposedly died in a car crash." She told her husband.

"Did she mention it was because Dad was drunk?" Harry asked.

"No she didn't." Lily stated with anger towards her sister flaring up in her green eyes.

"Where WAS your room?" Remus asked Harry.

Harry took a deep breath as his mother let him go so he could face the Professor. He mumbled something quietly.

"They didn't!" Remus exclaimed. This was one of the times where it paid to be a werewolf.

"I didn't catch it." James said.

"Neither did I." Sirius added.

"thecupboardunderthestairs." Harry admitted again quickly.

The two male animagi looked at each other in confusion.

"Did you see that small cupboard under the stairs?" Lily asked.

"Ye…They didn't." James started to say before realization dawned. "For how long?"

"Until I got my first Hogwarts letter." Harry admitted quietly.

"First?" Remus asked.

"They kept them from me." Harry said avoiding their eyes. "On my 11th birthday, Hagrid came and personally gave me a letter and made sure I read it. It wasn't until that day, I learned Mum and Dad's names and was given a brief description of what they looked like."

"I knew the Dursley's were bad, but not this bad." Sirius whispered before rolling up his sleeves. "Let me at them. I'll give the Ministry good reason to put me back in Azkaban."

"Petrificus Totalis." James, Lily, and Remus all said pointing their wands to the dog animagus.

"We can extract our revenge on the Dursley's later." James said "Right now, let's just…"

Suddenly, the floo system activated and Dumbledore stepped out.

"Good morning Harry." Dumbledore said.

"Good morning Professor." Harry said before glimpsing at Lily and James.

"Yes Harry." Dumbledore told the student. "I've already been informed of your parents revival. I'll admit I was astounded to see them again."

Sirius cheered silently behind Dumbledore

"Yes Mr. Black. I am capable of being surprised every now and then." Dumbledore added to Sirius with his back still turned.

It was now Sirius who was shocked. How did Dumbledore see him?

"I believe that today should be a day of rest and letting the shock of everything so far sink in." Dumbledore suggested. "Tomorrow, Harry may begin his tale of his life."

"Do I have to?" Harry asked.

"You may skip your years with the Dursleys." Dumbledore told Harry.

"I have to include Hogwarts?" Harry asked thinking of the Sorcerer's Stone first year; the Chamber of Secrets the second year; the being out on the grounds during the full moon within 5 feet of a werewolf and nearly killing his godfather his third year; and the Tri-Wizard Tournament just last year.

"They deserve to know." Remus whispered.

"Fine." Harry sighed in defeat. "But tomorrow."

"Very well." James said. "In the meantime, let's think of Dursley payback."

"But before that," Dumbledore said. "I would like a private word with Lily and James."

The group nodded and Harry went to go get settled in a room. Remus and Sirius went to go help him.

0000

With Lily and James,

"What is it?" Lily asked.

"I just wanted to inform you of a few things about Harry's life before he tell you so it's not a complete shock." Dumbledore said. "On the night you were attacked, Voldemort transferred some of his powers to Harry. I will not say which ones. That is for Harry to tell you."

"So my son has the powers of Gryffindor AND Slytherin?" James asked.

Dumbledore nodded.

"And some of the other teachers have noticed characteristics from the other houses as well." Dumbledore added. "Those are just more subtle."

"Harry has the powers of Gryffindor?" Lily asked.

"Yes and no." James said. "He carries them in his blood. Some power will be awaken when he turns sixteen. However, another heir will get all the powers. The family just lost count generations ago."

"Which heir?" Dumbledore asked.

"I think 400th." James said.

0000

With Harry, Sirius, and Remus,

"Are you okay?" Remus asked the teen.

"Yeah." Harry said. "This just seems so fake. Like a dream I don't want to wake from."

"I know." Sirius said. "I felt the same. This morning, I had thought it was a wonderful dream."

Flashback

"_Morning Padfoot." A tired Remus said entering the kitchen._

"_Morning Moony. I had the perfect dream last night." Sirius said making a pot of coffee. "I brought Prongs and Lily back to life."  
_

"_Strange. I had the same dream." Remus said sitting down at the table. "Then it faded to a wedding scene with me and Melissa."_

"_Same here." Sirius said pouring himself a cup of coffee. "Except it's me and Spica."_

_Suddenly, footsteps were heard coming into the kitchen. Sirius was too tired to notice, but Remus got up and fingered his wand._

_James Potter entered the kitchen yawning._

"_Oh Merlin." Remus whispered in shock. "It wasn't a dream."_

"_You were dreaming about me Moony?" James teased. "Whatever happened to those dreams about Oxford?"_

_CRASH_

_Remus and James looked at Sirius. The dog animagus was starring at James like he had never seen him before. _(A/N: I would have said "Like he was seeing a ghost, but he had gone to Hogwarts) _His hands were positioned as if he had been holding a coffee mug and the mug was in pieces on the floor surrounded by coffee._

"_Is everyone okay?" Lily asked running into the kitchen. "I heard a crash."_

"_Sirius and Remus thought they were dreaming." James told his wife._

"_To tell you the truth, I had thought so too." She admitted. "I woke up expecting to hear Harry crying."_

"_You'll hear him today." Remus said snapping out of it. "Today is the day we go get him."_

_Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Remus went to go answer it, and found Dumbledore there._

"_I am assuming you are getting ready to acquire Harry." Dumbledore said._

"_Yes." Remus said. "Lily, James, and Sirius are going while I stay here and fix a bedroom for him."_

"_Very well." Dumbledore said. "I'm assuming you four remember Arabella Figg."_

"_Yes sir." The four younger adults said._

"_She is living in Privet Drive." he informed them. "So she could keep an eye on Harry. She has offered to let you use her fireplace for the floo system since Harry is too young to apparate."_

End of Flashback

"How can I ever thank you two?" Harry asked the two Marauders with tears in his eyes.

"Don't." Sirius said hugging his godson "We would do ANYTHING for you Harry. But, if you MUST thank us, then you can not forget us. Now that your parents are back, I don't want to be the what's-his-face-guy."

"You'll never be that Sirius." Harry said. "Neither will you Pr…I mean, Remus. You two were there for me when I needed you. Remus, you were there for me in the third year to teach me how to repel dementors and to keep me from killing my godfather."

Remus smiled

"And you were there for me last year with the Tri-Wizard Tournament." Harry added to Sirius

"And don't forget who sent you your broom." Sirius reminded him.

0000

After Dumbledore left after talking to Lily and James about the Order and the school year, the group sat around and thought of multiple pranks that they could pull on the Dursleys and Snape if he tried anything. Around midnight, Harry fell asleep on his father's shoulder.

0000

The next morning,

Harry didn't want to wake up. He was having the perfect dream. His parents were alive and he was living with them as well as his godfather and ex-defense teacher.

Harry was woken by a scream. He looked around and found himself in a strange room. He wasn't at the Dursleys, but the dream had been too good to be true.

He slipped out of bed when he heard laughing, more screaming, and more laughing. He quietly snuck out of his room, wand in hand, and followed the laughter.

Harry peaked into the room and saw Remus with his back towards him. Obviously, the werewolf had also heard the racket and decided to check it out. Remus was, to Harry's surprise, laughing HARD. The teen peaked around the professor to see his parents sitting up in bed soaking wet and his godfather dangling by his feet.

Apparently, what had happened was Sirius had decided to wake up Lily and James by throwing cold water on them. As he had started laughing, James had grabbed his wand and levitated Sirius by his feet and left him to dangle. Remus heard the commotion and decided to come check it up.

"PUT ME DOWN!" Sirius ordered with a laugh.

"Okay." Lily said with an evil smirk as she grabbed her own wand. She gave it a wave and dropped Sirius on his head.

"OW!" Sirius yelled.

Lily, James, and Remus laughed harder.

As Sirius got up off the floor rubbing his head, an unfamiliar sound reached their ears. They turned towards the sound to see Harry standing in the doorway doubled over with laughter. Tears were streaming down his face as he laughed the hardest he had ever laughed in ages.

Remus and Sirius couldn't believe what they were seeing.

"The last time I've heard Harry laugh like that was when Sirius put a tickling charm on him a few months before the switch." Remus stated.

"It wasn't that funny." Sirius said pouting as he tried an experiment. His old girlfriend would always laugh harder if he said that in a childish pout. Maybe, just maybe…

Harry tried to stop laughing to respond, but couldn't. He laughed harder at his pouting godfather. Sirius smiled as the experiment worked.

"You know what I think?" Remus thought out loud to Lily, "I think…Harry is laughing at not just Sirius, but all the times when he WANTED to laugh, but couldn't because of the Dursleys or Snape, or some other reason."

"I think your right." Lily said as she watched her son.

Remus had no idea how right he was. Yes, the laughter HAD started out at just his soaked parents and Sirius, but that triggered other funny memories and they came flooding into Harry's mind: Crouch Jr. turning Malfoy into a ferret, Neville dressing a Snape Boggart in drag, and many others.

"He deserves to laugh." James said.

"It is the best medicine." Remus stated. "This might help him recover from last month."

James and Lily looked at the werewolf in confusion.

"Harry will explain." Sirius stated. "I'm hungry."

"Okay." Lily said summoning a robe. "I'll cook breakfast."

"Don't…bother." Harry panted as he calmed down and dried his eyes. "I'll cook."

Everyone looked at him funny as the teen headed towards the kitchen. Then Lily's eyes flashed with anger for a second as she realized why Harry knew how to cook.

"I will never be able to read the story of Cinderella again." She stated angrily

"Calm down Lily." James said. "I'm sure Harry's school life was better."

The two Potter went out the door leaving Remus and Sirius looking at each other. Little did Lily and James know, Harry was safer at the Dursleys at times during the school year.

TBC


	2. Year 1

**Year One**

After breakfast,

"So," Harry asked." What are we going to do today?"

"You are going to start telling us what you've been doing the past four years while we've been pushing up daisies." James told him.

"JAMES!" Lily scolded her husband. What had happened that night was not something to joke about.

Harry frowned. Not at his father's joke, but at how he was going to tell his parents what he's been through.

"They deserve to know." Remus whispered again.

"Let's go to the living room." Harry sighed in defeated. "And please don't ground me after the stories."

0000

In the living room, the three Potters sat on the couch. Remus took a seat on a chair while Sirius threw his feet over taking up the entire love seat. The dog animagus then conjured up a large bag of popcorn and began stuffing his face. Lily and Remus rolled their eyes while James ignored his best friend and focused his attention on his son.

"What we can do," Remus suggested. "Is Harry can tell one story a day. That way, it will give everyone a chance to get over what has happened."

"Okay." Everyone agreed.

"Right." Harry said taking a deep breath knowing it was too late to back out now. "As you know, I grew up not knowing about Hogwarts. One day, I went to go get the mail and I found a letter addressed to me. As I started to open it, Dudley tattled and Uncle Vernon took it away and burned it. I was moved into Dudley's second bedroom that night. That didn't stop the letters. When hundreds of letters started to come from the fireplace, Uncle Vernon took us all out of the house and we started driving in circles. Finally, he bought a rifle and rented a little hut on an island out in the middle of the sea. On the stroke of midnight on my 11th birthday, there was a knock at the door. It fell off its hinges and the largest man I've ever seen stepped in. He introduced himself as Rubeus Hagrid and told me everything. He gave me my letter personally. When Uncle Vernon said that he wasn't going to pay Dumbledore to teach me magic, well, he didn't exactly put it like that; he called Dumbledore something horrible and…"

The Marauders and Lily winced. They knew Hagrid when they were in school and to find a man more loyal to Dumbledore than Hagrid was RARE.

"Dudley was given a pig's tail." Harry explained with a laugh.

"But I thought Hagrid couldn't use magic because he was expelled." Lily said.

"He can't." Harry said. "But, he was given special permission so he could come get me. We went to Diagon Alley the next day where he gave me Hedwig and showed me my vault."

"Which one?" James asked.

"The Potter vault." Harry said to his father confused.

"Harry. We have three vaults in the English bank alone." James informed his son. "One of them doesn't have any money, but other valuables."

"It was Vault 687." Harry answered his father's question.

"The one with the least amount of money." James mused. "Thanks a lot Dumbledore."

"The LEAST?" Harry asked. "Hold on. THREE VAULTS in England ALONE?! We have MORE THAN ONE?!"

"Oh yeah." Sirius said with his mouth full of popcorn. "I wonder if that diving board that we rigged up in the American vault is still there."

"Probably." James said.

"Where's Hedwig?" Remus asked the teen changing the subject.

"She's delivering letters to Ron and Hermione."

"Who?" Lily asked.

"My best friends. I'll explain in a few minutes." Harry said. "Anyways, Hagrid also picked up something from Vault 713. After we went shopping, I was taken back to the Dursleys. They took me to Kings Cross because they had to get Dudley's tail removed in London anyways. Hagrid had forgotten to tell me how to get onto the platform, so I was a little lost. I finally overheard a woman say "muggles". I followed the woman and her five kids. I watched as the first boy ran through the barrier, but I didn't understand it. Then, I watched as her twin sons gave her a hard time about not being able to tell them apart."

James smiled as he started to recognize the family.

"I finally went up and asked the woman how to get onto the barrier. She explained it to me and told me it was Ron's first time as well. As I prepared to run, I heard her daughter whisper "good luck" to me."

Sirius snickered as he caught a glimpse of Harry's eyes as the subject turned towards Ginny for a second. There was two seconds worth of a dreamy look. James had caught it as well.

"Is she a red head?" James asked with a smirk.

"All of them are." Harry said snapping out of it. "Why?"

"No reason." James said grinning. "Continue."

"After I got on the train before we pulled out, I met the twins I mentioned before. Fred and George Weasley. I guessed they were pranksters because I overheard their mother tell them not to blow up any toilets."

Lily groaned. "I TOLD Molly not to let James and Sirius babysit the twins."

Harry looked at his father and godfather. "YOU babysat Fred and George?"

"Loads of times." James said. "We even babysat the others. After you were born, we'd have playdates with the Weasleys and the Longbottoms."

"You learn something new everyday." Harry said. "I guess the twins knew I overheard them because Dumbledore said near the end of the year that they tried to send me a toilet seat as a get well soon present when I was unconscious in the Hospital Wing."

"What were…" Lily started

"I'll get there later." Harry said. "After the train pulled away, I was alone in the car for a while until Ron came in wondering if he could sit with me. Since I was the only one in the car and was getting bored, I motioned the empty seat, and we introduced ourselves. We became the best of friends."

"He's the equivalent to Padfoot." Remus told James.

"So he's loyal?" James asked with a smile.

"Yes." Harry answered. "We've hit some bumps a few times…"

"What friendship hasn't?" James asked with a glare towards Sirius. James still hadn't forgotten whose fault it was that Snape owed James a life debt.

"He also introduced me to his pet rat, Scabbers." Harry added with a murderous glare at the coffee table.

"We'll get to Scabbers later." Remus said.

"I also met Hermione on the train." Harry continued. "She was a know-it-all muggleborn at the time. Still is."

The Marauders all looked towards Lily.

"What?" she asked dangerously.

They started to whistle as they looked away.

"I also met Draco Malfoy on the train. He insulted Ron and then said that he could help me sort out the good sort from the bad sort. I just told him that I could do it myself. When we got there, we were sorted. I was sorted into Gryffindor, but…."

Harry hesitated. He wanted to leave this part out, but he knew it was vital for the next year.

"…I was nearly put in Slytherin." He said quietly.

Lily and James looked at each other confused. How could the Heir of Gryffindor be nearly placed in Slytherin?

"There's a reason." Remus stated. "But later."

"Classes started the next day." Harry continued. "That's when I met Snape."

"Professor Snape." Remus corrected.

"Do I have to?" Harry asked. "He's not here."

"Go on." James bade him to continue.

"Anyways," Harry said. "There had been a break in at Gringotts…"

"WHAT?!" Lily and James screamed.

"But the vault in question was already cleaned out. Vault 713 had only one thing in it." Harry continued. "Then was the flying lesson with the Slytherins. My broom was the first to go up to my hand. Neville though, was having a little trouble. His broom rose before Madame Hooche gave the signal to start flying. He fell and broke both wrists and dropped his Rememberall. He was taken to the Hospital Wing and we were given orders not to fly. Malfoy grabbed the Rememberall and flew up bragging about how he was going to put it in a tree. I followed him up."

"But Harry!" Lily interrupted. "You were given orders to…"

"He was helping a friend." James reminded her.

"Okay." Lily sighed in defeat. "Never mind."

Harry breathed a sigh of relief. "Malfoy finally threw it towards the castle. I chased after it and caught it in mid-air just as it was going to crash into a window. Unfortunately, the room that the window led to had an occupant and I was caught. I thought I was going to be expelled when she came to get me. She took me to Professor Quirrell's room, he was our defense professor that year, and asked for Wood. I thought she was going to cane me or something. Instead, a fifth year boy stepped out. She told him that she found him a Seeker."

"A SEEKER?" James asked in shock "FIRST YEAR?"

Harry nodded. "She asked if it was my first time on a broomstick, and I told her that it was. Oliver Wood then suggested that they get me a broomstick like a Nimbus 2000."

"That was the latest model at the time." Remus explained.

"A BROOMSTICK?" James asked in shock "YOUR FIRST YEAR? IS MINNIE NOT THERE ANYMORE?"

Harry looked at his father confused.

"Professor McGonagall." Remus told Harry.

Harry then backtracked in his mind. He laughed when he realized he had forgotten to tell who had caught him.

"Dad." Harry said gently knowing that this would REALLY get his father going. "She was the one who made me a seeker."

"WHAT?" James asked. "You got special treatment from Minnie? I've tried to get that for seven years, and you got it your first year without trying. And that would have made you the youngest seeker in…"

"A century." Harry told his father. He realized that James was proud, just shocked.

"Remind me to ask Minnie why she broke the First-Years-No-Brooms-Rule" James said to Sirius.

"She told me that you used to play Quidditch." Harry told his father.

"Of course I played." James said. "I was Quidditch Captain our sixth and seventh year."

"Quidditch and your mother were his life. Then you were added when you came along." Remus said.

"Don't forget about JenOuch!" Sirius added before Remus elbowed him and shot him a warning look.

"Anyways," Harry continued with the story. "Malfoy challenged me to a Wizard Duel at midnight that day."

"Did you accept?" Lily asked.

"No." Harry said.

She smiled.

"Ron accepted for me." He added.

She frowned.

"Unfortunately," Harry said. "Malfoy had no intention on dueling. Instead, the git tipped Filch off. Hermione had come with us to keep us from doing something stupid. When we saw Filch, we ran. We ended up on the Forbidden Corridor. We found out why it was forbidden too."

"Why?" James asked.

"Fluffy." Harry said.

"Who's Fluffy?" Lily asked.

"Hagrid's pet 20 foot, three-headed dog." Harry said.

"I should have known." James said shaking his head. "The cuter the name, the deadlier the creature for Hagrid."

"We got out of there safely and managed to keep from getting caught." Harry continued.

"Everything was going fine after that. I got my Nimbus 2000 from McGonagall which made Malfoy jealous. He tried to tattle as he recognized the shape of the parcel, but Flitwick had been informed of the special circumstance."

The Marauders laughed and Lily smiled. Flitwick had been her favorite next to Professor Peeler.

"I was being trained in Quidditch." Harry continued. "But Ron was having trouble with Hermione. They had been partnered in Charms during our levitation lesson. He was talking to me afterwards and he insulted her. The next thing I knew, she had surpassed us walking and her head was bent low. I knew she had heard him. At the feast that evening, we overheard Pavarti tell Lavender that Hermione was in the bathroom…crying. Suddenly, Professor Quirrell came running in screaming that there was a troll in the dungeon. He then fainted."

"A TROLL?" Lily screamed. "WHAT WAS A TROLL DOING IN THE CASTLE?"

"I'll get there." Harry told her. "On our way back to the safety of our common room, we realized that Hermione didn't know about the troll. So, Ron and I ran to the girl's bathroom to warn her. We saw the troll go into a room and found a lock and the key. We locked the troll in and started to head to find a teacher. Then, we heard a scream and realized we had locked the troll in the girl's bathroom. We ran back to find Hermione shrunk against a wall trying to dodge the troll's swings. We threw pipes and debris at it trying to distract it. Ron yelled at it to get it's attention. Now that we had it's attention…you have to remember I was very young and foolish at the time,"

"What did you do?" Lily asked almost dreading to hear the answer.

"I took a running jump and fastened my arms around the troll's neck from behind. And from the position of my wand, it had gotten stuck up the troll's nose."

James started to laugh at the picture.

"Then it grabbed be and held me by my feet and started swinging at me." Harry continued. "I managed to duck them, but I wasn't sure for how long. I yelled at Ron to do SOMEthing. He pulled out his wand and said the first spell that came to his head. Wingardium Leviosa. The troll's club flew right out of the troll's hands. Ron then dropped the club on the troll's head and knocked it out. I was dropped safely to the ground. I got up and pulled my wand out of the troll's nose just in time for Professors Snape, Quirrell, and McGonagall to come running in. Professor McGonagall asked what had happened. Hermione told her that she had gone looking for the troll because she had read about them and thought she could handle it. Ron and I were amazed that Hermione had told a downright lie to a teacher. McGonagall took away five points from Hermione for her "serious lack of judgment." Ron and I gained five points each for "sheer dumb luck." Hermione became our best friend after that."

"Wait a minute." Lily interrupted. "What KIND of troll? Was it mountain, forest, or river?"

"Mountain." Harry told his mother

"MOUNTAIN?" Lily repeated. "YOU FOUGHT A **MOUNTAIN** TROLL YOUR **FIRST YEAR**? THOSE ARE THE LARGEST AND MOST VICIOUS KIND!"

"Tell me about it." Harry said quietly "Then it came time for my first Quidditch game."

James smiled.

"It was excellent." Harry said. "I was obviously nervous. Suddenly, my broom started jerking back and forth trying to knock me out. The jerking stopped after a few minutes and I found the Snitch. I reached out standing on my broom and fell off on top of it."

Lily started to pale.

"I was only three feet off the ground." He told his mother. "And as I fell, I had opened my mouth in shock and I fell towards the snitch. I caught it with my mouth. Nearly swallowed it."

James laughed at this. "I thought Dad had some strange catches."

"Your grandfather was a seeker as well." Sirius told Harry.

"Really?" Harry asked looking at James.

"Of course." James said. "Every Potter plays Quidditch. It's a fact of life."

"Of course…" Remus reminded "there was that one incident where I was almost certain Mrs. Potter would never allow James to play again."

"That was Bella's fault." Sirius pointed out. "Only a cheating, slimy, Slytherin is crazy enough to aim a bludger to a head."

"What happened?" Harry asked.

"Just as James made a goal," Remus explained. "Frank Longbottom caught the snitch and Bellatrix Black, Sirius' cousin, aimed a bludger for James' head. He woke up a week later with amnesia."

Harry paled at the story.

"He got it back a week later." Sirius added.

"Thanks to your mother." James added with a smile towards his wife. Lily blushed.

"How?"

"Lost spell." She explained. "Our defense teacher taught me. Continue with YOUR story."

"Okay." Harry said. "Well, Ron and Hermione told me what they had seen while my broom was on the fritz. The theory was that Snape was jinxing the broom. The THEORY."

Harry had to repeat himself to keep his father from apparating to wherever Snape was to jinx him.

"Christmas finally came. Hermione had gone home after we managed to get Hagrid to give us some more detail about what was going on. At the time, the theory was that Snape was after whatever was once in Vault 713 that was now in Hogwarts guarded by Fluffy. We also found out that there was a Nicholas Flamel involved. On Christmas morning, I was amazed I got presents. Hagrid had given me a wooden flute, Mrs. Weasley had given me a sweater and some fudge, Hermione gave me a large box of Chocolate Frogs, and the Dursleys even sent me a fifty-pence piece."

"That's big of them." James said sarcastically.

"I gave it to Ron who had never seen one before." Harry told them. "And then I got a present from no one."

"What was it?" Lily asked.

Instead of answering, Harry got up and went to his room. There, he opened his trunk and pulled out the map, the photo album, and the invisibility cloak. He draped the cloak over his arm and placed the map and the album in his pocket for later.

He came out and showed the silver cloak.

"My cloak." James said quietly as Harry gave it back to him. James took it from his son and stroke the material. "I left it in Dumbldore's possession before we went into hiding just in case something went wrong. I left him instructions to give it to you after you got to Hogwarts."

"What better time than Christmas?" Remus asked.

Harry smiled as James starred at the cloak and memories flooded back.

"That night," Harry said sitting back down. "I decided to try out the cloak. I took it to the restricted section of the library to see if Flamel was in one of the books. I didn't find out. Filch nearly caught me. If not for the cloak…anyways, I ran for it and found myself in a large room with a mirror. I looked at the mirror and it had some strange writing on it. I looked in and I saw…you two."

"Us?" Lily asked. "But, we were dead."

"I know. After I took Ron, he saw himself Head Boy and Quidditch Captain. The next night, Dumbledore appeared when I went to the mirror. He told me that it was called the Mirror of Erised. It shows the heart's desire. Ron saw himself standing alone, best of all of his older brothers. I saw my family. Dumbledore told me, when I asked him what he sees, that he sees himself holding a pair of thick, woolen socks."

"I will NEVER understand Albus Dumbledore." James stated as Lily hugged Harry.

"Neither will I." Sirius agreed.

"He also told me not to go looking for the mirror again because it was going to be moved. He also told me that "it does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live."" Harry added

Harry paused when he realized that THAT was what he had been doing all summer. He made a mental note to push the third task to the back of his mind after he told the story.

"When school picked back up, we still had no clue who Flamel was. Suddenly, We found the answer. I had known I had heard of him. It was on my Chocolate Frog Card of Dumbledore. The card says "Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Gindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel."."

"I KNEW I've heard that name before." Lily said. "He came and spoke to my alchemy class back in seventh year" (A/N: That hadn't been too important, so I left it out of New Defense Professor)

"Hermione remembered where she had also read about Flamel. She found the book that was about this thick, for light reading."

Harry had held his hands about a foot from each other.

"Light?" James asked. "But then again, I have seen thicker."

"Have you READ them?" Remus asked.

"Only because I had to." James defended his Marauder reputation

"Hermione read to us that Flamel is the only known maker of the Sorcerer's Stone."

"I remember studying it." Lily said. "it a legendary substance with astonishing powers. It transforms any metal to pure gold and it also produces the Elixir of Life, which will make the drinker immortal. I think Flamel was over 600 years old when I met him."

Harry and the Marauders just starred at Lily.

"What?" she asked.

"No wonder Dad, Sirius, and Remus looked at you when I described Hermione." Harry told her. "You sounded just like her. The next Quidditch match, Snape refereed."

"WHAT?" the Marauders asked in shock

"I'll explain later." Harry said. "That game, I caught the snitch in five minutes."

"Wow." Sirius said.

"I think the shortest game my father played was seven minutes." James said proudly. "You beat the family record."

"Too bad Ron missed it." Harry said. "He and Neville had gotten into a fight with Malfoy and his goons. Anyways, after the Quidditch game, I saw Snape and Quirrell head towards the forest. I followed them and I heard Snape threatening Quirrell."

The adults looked at each other confused.

"I'll get there later." Harry told them.

"How soon is later?" James asked.

"Near the end." Harry explained. The next big thing was Norbert."

"Oh no." James groaned. "A Hagrid Pet."

"Oh yeah." Harry said with a grin.

"What is it now?" Lily dared to asked.

"A…Norwegian Ridgeback." Harry said. He knew he'd feel the wrath of his mother when she realized exactly what he was talking about.

"That's….that's a type of Dragon!" she exclaimed. "What were you doing within 10 feet of a dragon?"

Harry, Remus, and Sirius looked at each other worriedly. How was she going to react to the first task if she took Baby Norbert like this?

"I didn't know there was a dragon at the time we went over to Hagrid's." Harry defended himself. "He showed us a black egg hatching. However, Malfoy saw Norbert as well. We followed to stop him, but he had gone to McGonagall. She took 150 points from Gryffindor and gave the four of us detention. The look on Malfoy's face was worth it."

Lily looked ready to ground Harry on the spot. James, on the other hand, wiped a fake tear of joy over his son's first detention.

"Our detention was to help Hagrid in the Forbidden Forest." Harry told his guardians.

"Lucky!" James and Sirius exclaimed.

Harry added. "Malfoy's reaction was perfect. He tried to use the excuse that there were werewolves in the forest."

"So?" Sirius asked looking at Remus.

"Not all werewolves are good." Remus reminded his friend "Look at Greyback."

Sirius bit his lower lip and shut up. Silence fell across the room.

"Who?" Harry asked.

"A werewolf." Remus explained.

"The guy who bit Remus." James whispered in his son's ear.

"Oh." Harry said. "But, he couldn't control himself right?"

"Come with me." James said quietly taking Harry into the kitchen. "We'll be right back."

0000

"You're not in trouble, but Remus is still very sensitive about the subject." James explained to his son. "When Remus was only five, his father had insulted Finrir Greyback. As revenge, Greyback bit Remus. About what you had said, yes, werewolves can't control themselves on full moons unless they take wolfsbane or they have friendly company. But Greyback positions himself just before the transformation."

"That's horrible!" Harry exclaimed. "Hasn't anyone done something about it?"

"I can't say." James said. "I was only revived three days ago. Let's get back out there. I want to hear the rest of the story."

0000

"Where was I?" Harry asked.

"Malfoy's phobia of other Moonys." Sirius told him.

Remus reached over and smacked Sirius on the shoulder.

"Right." Harry said. "Hagrid was still upset over the loss of his baby. Norbert had been taken to Romania. Hagrid was worried that Norbert wouldn't like Romania or that the other dragons would be mean to him."

Sirius and James laughed while Lily and Remus rolled their eyes.

"Filch's response to Malfoy's phobia," Harry continued. "Was that there were more than werewolves in those trees."

"True." James said. "I've seen numerous things when we'd go out with Moony. Some harmless, and some, not so harmless."

"Hagrid told us that we were looking for a hurt unicorn." Harry continued with his story. "We spilt up. Ron and Hermione went with Hagrid, and I went with Malfoy and Fang. Malfoy had called Fang just before Hagrid warned him that Fang's a coward. Malfoy spent the whole time complaining. "Just wait till my father hears about this." Annoying."

"Did you find the poor unicorn?" Lily asked.

"Yeah." Harry told her "The thing that killed it was drinking it's blood. Fang and Malfoy made a break for it, but my scar had started throbbing and I tripped. The thing headed straight for me. But, it stopped, turned around and fled after we heard the sound of hooves. A centaur had come to my rescue. The centaur, I later found out was named Firenze, told me that I must leave the forest because it was not safe at that time. He also told me that it is a terrible crime to slay a unicorn. Drinking the blood would keep you alive even if you are inches from death, but at a price. It would only be a half life. I asked who could choose such a life? He asked if I could think of no one. There was one person who I thought of. I told him who I was thinking of. He reminded me what was in the school at the time: the Sorcerer's Stone. Hagrid and the others finally came and Firenze left."

"I remember Firenze." James said.

"Who was it you thought of?" Lily asked.

"I'll get there later." Harry said. "It's coming up soon."

Lily and James looked at each other nervously. Lily wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer.

"Hermione, Ron, and I spent the rest of that night polishing up our theory. Hermione then reminded us that as long as Dumbledore was around, I couldn't be touched. The week of finals, my scar had started to throb again. We went over to Hagrid's because I realized that Hagrid had told me that he had always wanted a dragon. Then, someone just HAPPENS to have one. It didn't seem right."

"True." James said. "How many people wander around with dragon eggs in their pockets?"

"So, we went over and asked him about the guy who gave him the egg. He told us that he didn't see his face and the man seemed interested about Fluffy. Hagrid then told us that he told the man that if you play a bit of music for Fluffy, he'd fall right to sleep. Hermione, Ron, and I ran straight to McGonagall and told her that we needed to see Dumbledore NOW. She told us that he went to London on Ministry call. We told her it was about the Sorcerer's Stone. Well, whatever she had been expecting was NOT that. She said that it was well protected, but we didn't believe. That night, we went for the third floor where Fluffy was."

"You didn't." Lily whispered.

"Neville tried to stop us." Harry said. "But Hermione used Patrificus Totalis on him. When we got there, Fluffy was already asleep. A harp was playing by itself. We moved Fluffy's paw and opened the trap door it was guarding. I told Ron and Hermione that I would go first. If something goes wrong, get out. Suddenly, it seemed quiet. The harp had stopped playing and Ron had slobber on his shoulder. We looked up to see all of Fluffy's six eyes opened. We jumped in and landed on Devil Snare."

Lily paled.

"We stared to freak out, but Hermione told us to relax. If we panicked, it would only kill us faster. She remembered that Devil Snare likes dark and damp. I told her to light a fire, but she said that there's no wood. Ron reminded her that she was a witch. She lit a bluebell flame on the plant and it shrunk away. The next stage was a locked door and winged keys. The only tool, was a broomstick. The second I grabbed onto the broom, the keys started to attack me. I managed to mount the broom and catch the right key. I threw it down to Ron and Hermione and they unlocked the door. They ran out of the room and I flew out. The next stage was a giant chess set. Ron is an expert chess player. We had to play our way across. We won, but Ron had to sacrifice the piece he was playing. He was only knocked out. Once Hermione and I got through, there was a room with a knocked out troll. Thankfully, we didn't have to fight it. The last stage was logic. When we entered the room, purple fire sprang up from behind us and black fire appeared behind a table with bottles. There were seven bottles: one would let you move ahead, one would allow you to go back, two were filled with wine, and three had poison in it."

"Which was which?" Sirius asked.

"The smallest bottle would get us through the black flames." Harry said. "But there was only enough for one. I told Hermione to drink the one that would get her through the purple flames, get Ron, get out, and go get Dumbledore. I was going on alone."

Lily's mouth opened but James shushed her with a look.

"I took the potion and went through the flames. When I got to the room, I saw the Mirror of Erised and Professor Quirrell."

"Quirrell?" the adults repeated.

"Yes." Harry said. "My defense professor who always wore a turban. I told him I thought it was Snape. He explained to me how he had jinxed my broom and Snape was muttering the counter. Hermione had knocked Quirrell over to stop Snape because she thought that Snape was jinxing the broom."

"SNAPE SAVE YOUR LIFE?!" James interrupted. "Snape? Greasy hair, hooked nose, Slytherin, hates my gutts? Are you sure this is the same guy?"

"I'll get there later." Harry told his father. "I realized that Quirrell had let the troll in. Snape hadn't been fooled and had come straight to the Forbidden Corridor while I fought the troll with Ron. He also said that Snape referred the match so that Quirrell wouldn't try anything funny again. Quirrell then turned his attention to the mirror. I tried to keep him distracted by talking about how Snape seemed to hate me. He told me it was because he hated you, Dad."

"THAT'S the understatement of the century." Sirius said.

"He then asked his master to help him. I heard a voice call "use the boy". Quirrell then told me to come to him. I obeyed. He told me to look in the mirror and tell him what I saw. I saw myself reach into my pocket and pull out the stone. Then, I winked at myself and put the stone back in. I felt something in my pocket. I had acquired the stone. I told Quirrell that I saw myself winning the House Cup for Gryffindor. The voice knew I was lying. It then said for it to speak to me face-to-face. Quirrell told his master that he was not strong enough, but Quirrell obeyed and unwrapped his turban. There was a face."

"A face?" Sirius asked.

Harry sighed knowing that none of the four would take this well.

"The face said "Harry Potter. We meet again." It explained that unicorn blood has strengthened him, but couldn't give him a body of his own. But, the stone that he knew was in my pocket could. I tried to run for it, but I tripped. He then told me not to be a fool and suggested that I join him and not to go the same way as you two. He then said that you died begging for mercy."

"WHA…" Sirius started to say.

"But I called him a liar." Harry interrupted. "He then told me that you two fought bravely. That he killed you first, Dad. And that Mum didn't have to die. He then told me to give him the stone or else she would have died in vain. I tried to run, but he told Quirrell to seize me. Quirrell tried, but…I couldn't tell what was going on. My scar was burning. I heard Quirrell say that he couldn't touch me. I then grabbed on the Quirrell. As I blanked out, I heard a voice call my name."

Harry looked at his guardians to see each of them as pale as a sheet.

"I woke up in the hospital wing to see a bunch of presents. Mainly candy. Dumbledore walked in and told me that the Weasley twins had attempted to give me the toilet seat. He said that all the candy was tokens from friends and admirers. What had happened in the dungeons between myself and Quirrell had been a complete secret, so, naturally, the whole school knew. I'm STILL trying to figure that out. Dumbledore explained that Ron and Hermione were fine and the stone was destroyed. He had gotten me out of there just in time. At the time, I thought he had been talking about Quirrell and Voldemort getting the Stone, but he explained that he was talking…about my life. The effort had nearly killed me."

Lily couldn't stand it anymore and wrapped her son in a tight hug.

"Can I finish?" Harry asked.

"Sure." She said reluctantly.

"He also explained that I got the stone because he had set it up so only a person who wanted to find the stone, but not use it, could get it from the mirror. He also told me why Quirrell couldn't touch me."

"Why?" Remus asked.

"Mum's sacrifice of love." Harry said. "He also told me it was he who had sent the invisibility cloak. I also asked for a confirmation about Dad and Snape. Dumbledore said that you "rather detested each other.""

"ANOTHER understatement." Sirius said.

"He then told me that Dad did something Snape could never forgive."

"I could think of a million things." Remus said looking at James.

"What did your father do?" Lily asked.

"Dad saved Snape's life." Harry said.

James glared at Sirius

"Snape couldn't' stand being in Dad's debt. He worked so hard to protect me that year because he felt it would make him and Dad even. Then he could go on hating Dad's memory in peace."

"So, Snape's debt is over?" James asked. "YES! FINALLY!"

"But now that your back," Remus stated.

"Don't even go there Moony." James said.

"If I can continue, I'm almost done." Harry said. "I even found out why Dumbledore doesn't like Bertie Botts."

"Why?" Sirius asked. "I've always wondered."

"He came across a vomit flavored one once." James answered. He knew the story.

"He did try one of mine though." Harry said. "He was hoping for toffee, but got earwax."

"Is there anything else?" Lily asked.

"The feast." Harry told her. "Slytherin had won while Gryffindor was in last place. However, Dumbledore had a few more last minute points. Hermione got 50 points "for the cool use logic in the face of fire". Ron got 50 points "for the best played game of chess Hogwarts had seen in many years." I got 60 points "for pure nerve and outstanding courage." We were tied with Slytherin. Neville got 10 points for standing up to us the night we went down the trap door. We won the house cup. The day I got on the train to go back to the Dursley's, Hagrid gave me something."

Harry pulled out the album and handed it to his mother.

Lily opened it up and smiled when she saw a picture of a younger James, a younger Lily, and a baby Harry waving at her. She was helping Harry wave at the camera.

"Hagrid also told me to threaten Dudley with magic."

"You're not allowed to use magic outside of Hogwarts." Lily said as she looked up and James took the album.

"Unless the did away with that like the No-Brooms-For-First-Years Rule." James said looking at the picture.

"They didn't." Harry said. "But Dudley didn't know that. And that was my first year."

"How about we get something to eat." Remus suggested.

"Great idea." Sirius said. "I'm starving."

TBC


	3. Year 2

**Year Two**

The next morning, the group was in the same seating arrangements like the day before. Breakfast had been severed, and it was story time again.

"How can you eat popcorn right after that huge meal?" Remus asked Sirius.

"For you information Moony," Sirius defended his extra-large bag of popcorn. "I've been living off rats and the occasional chicken the past year. Before was bread and water if I was lucky."

Everyone winced at this.

"Okay. Now for the second year." Harry said taking a deep breath. "It started dull. I had no letters from any of my friends. Then, one evening, that all changed. The Dursleys had some dinner guests coming and I was to stay in my room and pretend that I don't exists."

"WHAT?!" Lily exploded.

"Calm down." James told his wife.

"When I went up to my room, I found a house-elf jumping on my bed. He introduced himself as Dobby. I asked what he was doing there, but he had trouble finding the words. I asked him to start by having a seat, and he started crying. He told me that it was because he had never been treated like an equal. I told him that he must not have met many decent wizards then."

"What did he say?" Sirius asked.

"He hadn't… Then he started banging his head against my chest-of-drawers, shouting "Bad Dobby." He explained that he had almost spoke ill of his family. He also told me that if his family found out that he had come to warn me…"

Harry shuddered at the thought of what might have happened to Dobby if he hadn't set the elf free.

"Warn?" Lily asked.

"Dobby told me not to go back to school the next year. Terrible things were to happen. He had even stopped my mail to get me to think that no one cared. Then the little troublemaker decided to levitate Aunt Petunia's pudding and drop it on one of the dinner guests. Then the Dursleys locked me in my room and put bars on the windows."

Lily now looked ready to go back to the Dursleys and give her sister a piece of her mind.

"The next night, my birthday, I was woken by the sound of a car. I opened my eyes and put my glasses on. I looked out the window and saw something moving was headed for my window. It looked like a flying motorcycle at first, then I saw it was a flying car. It pulled up and Ron, Fred, and George were in the car. We managed to escape the Dursleys."

Lily sighed in relief.

"When we got to the Burrow," Harry continued. "It was quiet. The story was going to be that I had turned up in the middle of the night."

"Did Molly fall for it?" Lily asked.

"She came bounding down the stairs before we had a chance to go up." Harry said. "She started yelling at Fred, George, and Ron. Ron explained about the bars on my window, and she threatened him with bars on his own. Of course, she was nice to me. Then Ginny came downstairs looking for her jumper. When she saw me, and I greeted her, she paled and made a mad dash for her room. I guess she was embarrassed I saw her in her nightgown."

This got James and Sirius cracking up.

"After she ran upstairs, Mr. Weasley came in. He sat down next to me and asked who I was. I told him and he explained that Ron had told the rest of the Weasleys all about him. He then asked when I got there. Mrs. Weasley told him it was that morning because his sons flew his enchanted car to Surrey and back the night before. Mr. Weasley then asked how it went."

"Arthur was always into Muggles." James reminisced.

"Still is. He asked me what the function of a rubber duck was."

"What IS the function?" Sirius asked.

Everyone looked at him funny.

"I was never taught." Sirius defended himself.

"It's a bathtub toy." Lily told him.

"Their owl, Errol, came with the post that morning. Crashed into a window."

Everyone winced.

"Dumbledore had sent the Hogwarts letters. Even mine."

"Never misses a trick." Remus said about the headmaster.

"We got to Diagon Alley by floo powder. However, I had a little bit of trouble."

"Where did you end up?" Sirius asked.

"Not far." Harry said truthfully. "Knockturn Alley."

Harry braced himself for the explosion. It didn't come. He looked up and saw everyone pale as death.

"Did anyone recognize you?" Sirius finally asked quietly.

"I didn't give Malfoy a chance to see me." Harry explained. "And I saw Hagrid there. He led me out."

Everyone turned back to their original color.

"Thank goodness Hagrid was there." Lily sighed.

"What was he doing there in the first place?" Remus asked.

"Buying some Flesh-Eating Slug Repellent." Harry said. "We ran into Hermione in Diagon Alley and I found the Weasley's again. When we got to Flourish and Blotts, we found our new Defense Professor because Quirrell had been killed after Voldemort left his body. Gilderoy Lockhart."

"Not that third year Ravenclaw brat who was always trying to take credit for our pranks?" James said.

"The same." Remus said. "I wonder whatever happened to him."

"I'll explain. We ran into the Malfoys and Mr. Malfoy started to insult Mr. Weasley. I noticed that he slipped something into Ginny's cauldron. I found out later what it was, but I'll explain later. I also met Hermione's parents."

"You've met the Grangers?" Remus asked.

"Granger?" Lily asked excitedly. "Are they dentists?"

"Yes." Harry answered

"My childhood friend from before Hogwarts, Christine, was one of their patients. The last I heard from her, she was pregnant with her first and her dentists had just had a little girl named Hermione. It must be the same girl."

"Small world." Remus said.

"When it was time to get to school, the barrier wouldn't let me and Ron in. So, again, we were very young and foolish at the time, we, hijackedRon'sdad'scarandflewittoHogwarts."

Harry said that last part quickly because he knew his mother would have a fit over that.

"You hijacked the Weasley's flying car and flew it to Hogwarts?" Remus translated.

Harry starred at the werewolf in shock.

"You wouldn't believe how many time's I've had to deceiver fast-talk. I did it just the other day when Sirius brought your parents back."

"You HIJACKED a FLYING car and FLEW it to school?" Lily asked dangerously.

"Yes Ma'am." Harry said sinking into the couch. "It was Ron's idea though. And we did get punished."

James was beaming with pride.

"How was it?" Sirius asked.

"The flying was good." Harry said. "The landing however…we crashed into a tree."

"Were you hurt?" Lily asked.

"Not really." Harry said. "Ron's wand snapped."

"That's horrible!" Lily exclaimed.

"And of all the trees to crash into, we just HAD to crash into the one that hits back. By the way, that thing was rightfully named."

"Not the Whomping Willow." James groaned.

"The same." Harry said. "Thanks to Dumbledore, we weren't expelled. We just had to serve detention. I never want to see another fan letter again."

Remus like he was struggling so hard not to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Harry asked.

"Well," Remus said. "Dumbledore wanted you to get accustomed to the wizarding world before he gave them to you, but then he wanted to wait until you recovered from serving that detention with Lockhart. He then forgot to give them in the confusion of Sirius' escape, and then he wanted to wait until you recovered from last month…he showed me your "fan mail" and it's a huge stack."

"How huge are we talking?" Harry asked in horror.

"More than Lockhart could ever HOPE to have."

Harry groaned. "I wonder if I can pay Ron to help filter through the mail."

"What was your punishment?" James asked.

"I had to help Lockhart answer his fan mail." Harry told him. "Ron had to clean trophies the muggle way. He also got a howler from his mother."

"You would have gotten the same thing from me." Lily told him.

"I figured as much from your reactions." Harry said. "Our first defense lesson, after a quiz on Lockhart's favorite color, was on Cornish Pixies."

"I remember that lesson." Sirius said. "Professor Finn told us that they were rated a three by the Ministry of Magic."

"But for Lockhart," Harry said with a laugh. "They're rated seven."

"But the highest you can go is five." Remus stated.

"Exactly." Harry said. "After he opened their cage and let them loose, he tired a spell: Peskipiksi Pesternomi."

The Marauders bursted into laughter.

"I can't believe he FELL for that!" Sirius laughed.

"We taught him that after he attempted to take credit for one of our pranks." James explained.

"When that didn't work," Harry continued over the laughter. "He ran to his office and left the mess for US to clean. A few days later, we were going to Quidditch practice. However, as we were getting ready to start practicing, the Slytherin Team showed up with permission to use the field, even though we had permission first. They had to train their new seeker who had bought his way to the team. Malfoy."

"How did he buy his way?" Lily asked.

"His father had bought the entire team Nimbus 2001's." Harry said. "Then Malfoy had the gale to call Hermione….well, when she stood up against him."

"Call Hermione what?" Remus asked.

"A really FOUL name that one doesn't hear in civilized conversation." Harry said with a murderous look. "Remember Hermione's muggleborn?"

"I know what name your talking about." Lily said quietly. "I was called it a lot when I was in school."

"He didn't." James said. "Not the "M" word."

"It does start with an "M.", Dad." Harry said. "Ron was burping up slugs after he attempted to curse Malfoy with a broken wand."

"What happened after that?" Remus said.

"Well, after I served my tedious detention, I heard a voice in the walls. I ran into Ron and Hermione and they hadn't heard it. We found Mrs. Norris a few minutes later petrified. There was writing on the wall. In blood."

"What did it say?" James asked.

"_The Chamber of Secrets has been opened, enemies of the heir…beware_." Harry said.

James paled. He had heard of the Chamber of Secrets.

"Hermione managed to get Professor McGonagall to tell us about the Chamber of Secrets. We started thinking of people who could have opened the Chamber." Harry said. "We immediately thought Malfoy."

James now had a confused look on his face. The heirs of the founders know who each other were.

"So," Harry continued, "We decided to interrogate Malfoy."

"Too bad your father wasn't there." Lily joked. "He's good at it."

"How would you know?" James asked his wife

"I have my ways." She said sweetly.

"Hermione came up with a way." Harry continued. "It was very risky. The recipe was in the restricted section. So, we tricked Lockhart into signing the permission slip. But, we couldn't be caught actually making it…"

"What did you do?" Lily asked.

"We…" Harry started to hesitate. His mother wouldn't be happy and the Marauders will tease him about hanging out in the girl's bathroom.

He took a deep breath.

"We decided to brew Polyjuice Potion in Moaning Mrytle's bathroom." Harry said bracing himself for his mother to started reprimanding him.

Instead, to the shock of everyone in the room, she started laughing.

Harry shot a confused look at his father who shrugged. James had been ready to laugh, but the fact that his wife was laughing had shocked him enough to forget to laugh at his son.

"I did the same thing." Lily explained. "Even though it was Sara who made the potion."

"That was YOU?" the Marauders asked.

"I must have missed something." Harry said.

"At the end of our fourth year," James explained "Dumbledore had a word with me about the possibility of my younger sister leaving the country. When I got back to the common room, I found two versions of Sirius, Remus, and a fellow classmate. I was also standing there trying to figure out who was who."

"You have a sister?"

"Did you EVER figure out who was who?" Lily asked her husband with a smirk. She knew James was sensitive when it came to Jennifer.

"I did notice that the fake me sounded like you when you thanked me for my extra pair of glasses. But I didn't think it would be you." James admitted. "So you were me?"

Lily nodded.

"Who were the others?" Harry asked. Remus had whispered to him about Jennifer.

"My best friends." Lily explained. "Spica Jenkins, Sara Montgomery, and Melissa Oxford. Sara was John, Spica was Remus, and Melissa was Sirius."

Sirius paled at that before turning bright red.

"What's wrong Padfoot?" Remus asked

"It's just..." Sirius admitted. "You seemed different, so I never took my eyes off you…well, the fake you after we met in the hall. That means that I was with the fake the entire time."

"So?"

"I was teasing you about Mel in front of Spica. I mentioned how you mentioned Mel sometimes in your sleep. And then Prongs decided to retort with a comment about me and Spica. I didn't bother to deny it!"

"But you two ended up dating anyways." Lily said with a shrug. "And she admitted to me that she had a crush on you since first year."

Sirius breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn't had made a fool of himself all those years ago.

"What ever happened to them?" Harry asked.

"We lost touch." Lily said. "Mel went to university in America and Spica went with her to keep her focused on our world, England, and coughRemuscough."

"So, Moony and Padfoot had girlfriends?" Harry asked looking at the two in question.

"It was many years ago." Remus said. "Melissa has probably forgotten all about me. The last time I heard her voice was when your mother told her that she was pregnant with you. And that was over the phone."

"And Spica probably hates me now." Sirius added depressed. "She'd think that I was the secret keeper for your parents."

"I wouldn't be so sure." Lily said with a smile before turning to Harry. "Continue with your story."

"During the Quidditch match," Harry said. "I caught the snitch with my left arm, because my right arm was broken by a rogue bludger."

Lily turned pale.

"A rogue bludger?" James repeated.

"I'll explain in a few minutes." Harry said. "After the match, Lockhart came up and said that he could mend my arm. I told him not to, but he did it anyways. He said "_Brackium Emendo_.""

Lily groaned. She knew what that spell was.

"I spent the night in the hospital wing so the bones in my arm could grow back after Lockhart removed them. The Skele-gro tasted horrible."

"So I've heard." James stated.

"That night, Dobby appeared again. I realized it was Dobby who stopped Ron and me from getting on the train. He also admitted that the Bludger was his. He even told me that he could be freed if his master presented him with clothes. Also, that the Chamber of Secrets had been opened before. After he told me that, he started hitting himself with the bottle of Skele-gro. Apparently, he was trying to save my life."

"He has a funny way of doing it." Remus said.

"After Dobby left, Dumbledore, Pomfrey, and McGonagall came it. I overheard them talking. A student had been petrified. It was Colin Creevey, a first year who loved to take my picture."

Lily gasped. Colin's dad had gone to primary school with her.

"The next day, I told Ron and Hermione what I had heard when we started the potion. We were also introduced to Moaning Myrtle."

"And?" Lily asked.

"She's…she's…"

"Interesting?" Lily suggested.

"Yeah. Then, there was the dueling club. That turned out to be a disaster."

"Lockhart was in charge?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah." Harry said. "And Snape had volunteered to duel against him. Personally, I wouldn't have minded if they finished each other off. Snape defeated Lockhart with the disarming spell. Then they had two students demonstrate. It was me and Malfoy."

"This won't end well." Lily whispered.

"The duel went…well, it was going well until Malfoy used _Serpensortia_."

"So a snake came from Malfoy's wand?" Sirius asked as he winced.

Harry nodded. "I probably shouldn't have told the snake not to go after Justin."

"Told the snake?" Lily asked.

Harry realized what he had just said and winced.

"You're a parselmouth?" James asked.

Harry didn't dare look his parents in the eyes. He just nodded as he braced himself, ready for the rejection.

"Must be one of the powers Voldemort gave to Harry." James said quietly.

This caught Harry by surprise. He had not been expecting that.

"You…you don't mind the fact I can talk to snakes?" Harry asked looking at his parents not knowing tears had started to develop.

"Dumbledore told us that Voldemort transferred some of his powers to you." Lily explained. "It's not your fault."

"Thank Mum." Harry said hugging her. Her acceptance meant more to him than he imagined. "Dad?"

"I'm with your mother on this one. You're not the only one with secrets. I'll tell you the rest of mine some other day."

Harry then hugged his father tightly before continuing the story.

"After I told the snake to leave Justin, a Hufflepuff muggleborn, alone, Ron and Hermione dragged me away and started berating me about how I didn't tell them I was a parselmouth. I told them how I had done it once before."

"When?" Remus asked.

"Just before I got my Hogwarts letter." Harry explained. "It was Dudley's 11th birthday and Miss. Figg. Had broken her leg, so she couldn't watch me. The Dursleys were forced to take me along to the zoo. In the reptile exhibit, I met a boa constructor. It told me that it hadn't been to Brazil and I accidentally set it free."

James and Sirius laughed.

"It's not funny." Harry said. "Well, it is, but not at the time I told the story. Hermione told me that Salazar Slytherin was famous for being a Parselmouth. I told them that I can't be the Heir of Slytherin, but, there was no way to prove it."

"Of course your not the Heir of Slytherin!" James exclaimed. "You're…"

"Prongs!" Remus interrupted and shook his head.

"He doesn't…" James asked pointing to his son.

Remus shook his head again. "Dumbledore felt it wasn't time yet."

"I'm assuming he has no clue then about the you-know-what, then."

"Right." Remus said.

"Back to the story." Sirius said noticing Harry's confused face.

"The next day, Justin and Nearly-Headless-Nick were attacked." Harry said.

"Not Nick." James said.

Harry nodded. "I was taken to Dumbledore's office for questioning. Dumbledore was somewhere else at the time, so I looked around. I talked to the sorting hat about how it nearly put me in Slytherin. Then, I met Fawkes. I was admiring it when all of a sudden, he caught fire."

"You had no clue Fawkes was a phoenix did you?" James asked.

"No." Harry said. "Dumbledore explained when he entered. Just as I was about to defend myself, Hagrid came in and started telling Dumbledore that it couldn't have been me. Dumbledore told Hagrid that he did not suspect me. The next month was December and Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were staying for the holidays. Hermione had already gotten her hair. All that was left to do for the potion was to get something from Crabbe and Goyle. To do this, Hermione had filled two chocolate cakes with a sleeping draught. I levitated them and Crabbe and Goyle ate them."

The Marauders laughed.

"After we drank the potion, I turned into Goyle and Ron turned into Crabbe. We wondered down the hall for a while until we found Malfoy. Hermione didn't come with us because…I'll explain in a few minutes. We found out that Malfoy WASN'T the heir of Slytherin and that the Chamber of Secrets had been opened before 50 years prior. We also found out that someone had died. After the hour was up, we discovered that the hair Hermione had gotten was cat hair."

"Oh no." Lily groaned.

"A few weeks later, Myrtle flooded the bathroom because someone threw a book at her. It was a blank diary. The only clue was a name: Tom Marvolo Riddle."

James paled at this.

"So, not knowing who it really was and since the diary was 50 years old, I started using it. Apparently, Riddle had preserved his memory in it. He showed me what had happened the last time the chamber had been opened. The person who had been blamed was Hagrid."

"WHAT?!" the adults exclaimed.

"He had been raising something that was believed to have been causing the attacks." Harry explained. "A few weeks after the discovery, the boy's dorm was destroyed and the diary was gone."

"So, whoever threw it at Myrtle, must have wanted it back." Remus mused.

"The next day was the Quidditch game against Hufflepuff." Harry said. "It was cancelled because there had been a double attack. A Ravenclaw Prefect and…Hermione."

"Hermione?" Lily whispered.

Harry nodded. "She had a theory, but wanted to do some research before telling us. Ron and I snuck to Hagrid's hut that night for some answers. We never got a chance to ask him because Fudge and Dumbledore had appeared. They wanted to take Hagrid away until the attacks stopped."

"Where did they take him?" James asked.

"Azkaban." Sirius answered. "I saw him there a few months before I escaped."

James paled.

"If things couldn't be bad enough," Harry continued. "Malfoy Sr. came with an order from the governors to suspend Dumbledore."

Harry deliberately paused so the exclamations could come pouring in. Sure enough, they did.

"WHAT?!"

"I'M AMAZED THERE WASN'T AN ATTACK A DAY AFTER THAT!"

"MALFOY MUST HAVE THREATENED THE OTHERS!"

"THAT IS SO WRONG! MALFOY DOESN'T CARE ABOUT THE STUDENTS!"

"But Dumbledore made a statement before leaving: He is only truly gone, when there is no one left who is loyal to him. Hagrid then added that if anyone needed answers, we'd just have to follow the spiders. Poor Ron."

"His biggest fear is spiders." Remus explained remembering Ron's boggart.

"Ron was complaining the whole way about why it couldn't be follow the butterflies."

"Or the yellow brick road." Lily added jokingly.

Harry, James, and Remus laughed while Sirius just looked confused.

"Muggle joke." Lily and Harry explained.

"From the _Wizard of Oz._ Lily made me watch it." James added. "How did you know about it Moony? It was a full moon when I saw it."

"What do you think I was doing other than trying to get custody of Harry while Padfoot was in Azkaban and Harry was at the Dursley's? Twiddling my thumbs until Dumbledore approached me about teaching?" Remus asked.

"You were trying to get custody of me?" Harry asked.

"Of course." Remus told the teen. "You're my best friend's son. I knew you weren't being treated right by the Dursley's. But Dumbledore kept saying you were safer with the Dursleys."

"You should have told me in third year." Harry told the werewolf.

"You have no idea how much I wanted to." Remus said to him. "But at the time, with all the confusion, I didn't want you to know too much until Sirius had been caught. I didn't want you thinking I would help him."

"Can we finish with second year first?" Sirius asked.

"Right." Harry said when he realized he was off topic. "Well, when we followed the spiders into the forest, we met Aragog."

"Who?" Lily asked.

"The thing Hagrid was raising that took the blame for the attacks." Harry explained. "The giant talking spider told us that it did not kill the muggle-born girl, and that Hagrid never opened the Chamber of Secrets. It explained that the monster in the Chamber was something that spiders fear above all creatures. And that the girl had been found in the bathroom. After we got away from nearly being eaten by Aragog's descendants by the flying car that was made wild in the forest, we went to visit Hermione. There, we found something in her hand. I managed to lodge it out and found it was a page from a book."

"Hermione tore a page from a library book?" Sirius asked.

"What did it say?" Lily asked.

"_Of the many fearsome beasts that roam our land, none is more deadly than the basilisk. Capable of living for hundreds of years…instant death awaits anyone who meets this giant serpent's eye. Spiders flee before it_."

"That's why you were heari….A BASILISK?!" Sirius stated before realizing what he was saying. "THAT'S WHAT WAS IN THE CHAMBER?"

"And YOU wanted to go look for the Chamber." Remus reminded his friend.

"That was before I knew what the monster was!" Sirius said.

Lily and James were silent as the shock of what the monster was sunk in.

"No one had died yet because no one had looked it in the eye." Harry continued. "Hermione and the Prefect had a mirror. Hermione must have told her to look around corners with it. Justin saw the monster through Nick. Nick got full blast, but he's a ghost. He couldn't die again. Mrs. Norris saw it through the water. The floor had been flooded that night. Colin saw it through his camera. And before you ask, the basilisk had been getting around through the pipes. We also figured out that the girl who had died the last time and Moaning Myrtle are the same."

"THAT'S how Myrtle died?" Lily asked.

"Yes." Harry said. "And also her bathroom is where the entrance to the Chamber is located."

"I knew it." James said.

"Why didn't you say something when we were at school?" Sirius asked.

"Not THAT." James said. "I knew Salazar Slytherin was a nut case. What IDIOT hides a deadly, secret chamber in the girl's lavatory?"

"Sirius would." Remus teased.

"I would NOT." Sirius said. "I'd hide it in the boys."

"ANYWAYS," Harry interrupted. "Suddenly, an announcement came. Students were to head to their dormitories while the teachers were to head for the second floor corridor. Guess where Ron and I went."

"I want to say the dormitories," Lily said. "But you went to the second floor didn't you?"

"Yes." Harry said. "There was more blood writing. This time: _Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber…forever_. The theory was that the monster had taken a girl INTO the Chamber. It was Ginny."

Everyone gasped.

"Ron and I went to go find Lockhart to tell him what we knew. The teachers had decided to let him deal with the basilisk. We went to go locate him, and we found him packing his things. We disarmed him when he attempted to put a memory charm on us. We then led him to the girl's bathroom and asked Myrtle how she died. She seemed…almost pleased to see me. She told us how she had been teased about her glasses and had gone into the bathroom to cry. She heard someone enter and speak in a different language. She realized it was a boy's voice. She came out to tell him to "go away". She then died. I asked what she saw. She told me that she saw a pair of "great, big, yellow eyes" by a sink. I took a closer look at that sink and saw an engraving of a snake. I told it to open in Parseltongue and the Chamber opened. It was basically a hole in the ground. Lockhart suggested we test it, so Ron pushed him in. We knew it was clear when Lockhart complained about the "cleanliness" down there."

The Marauders laughed.

"After we got down there, we explored some. When we found the 60 foot or more long snakeskin, Lockhart fainted. Turned out he was faking because he grabbed wands broken wand and pointed it at me. He told us that he was going to perform a memory charm on us and tell everyone that he couldn't save Ginny and that at the sight of her "mangled" body, Ron and I lost our minds. After he performed the spell, it backfired and hit him. The impact he had on the wall caused a cave in. It separated me from Ron and Lockhart. I went on after Ginny. Now, this next part is going to be hard for ALL of us, so, absolutely NO INTERRUPTIONS!"

"Okay." They all agreed.

"Why do I have a feeling I won't like this?" Lily asked.

"You won't." Harry answered. "When I got to the Chamber, I found Ginny, barely alive. She was unconscious. I then met the memory of Tom Riddle."

James just looked confused.

"I told Riddle that we needed to get out of there because there was a basilisk. Riddle told me that it wouldn't come until it's called. That was when I noticed than Riddle had picked up my wand that I had dropped when I saw Ginny. He then told me that as Ginny grew weaker, he was growing stronger. It was Ginny who had opened the Chamber. Well, actually, it was Tom Riddle acting THROUGH Ginny. When she tried to dispose of the diary, he was happy that I found it. He said that he had wanted to meet me. He then told me that he framed Hagrid, but it would have been hard to open the Chamber again while he was at school, so he preserved his memory in the diary. That way, someone else could finish Slytherin's "Noble work". I told him that it hadn't been finished because the Mandrake potion that would be used to cure everyone would be completed. He then told me that his new goal was to finish me. He wanted to know how a baby was able to defeat Voldemort. I asked why he cared because Voldemort was after his time. He then told me that Voldemort was his "past, present, and future." Then, taking my wand, he wrote his full name in the air. With a flick of the wand, the letters started to rearrange themselves until they said: "I Am Lord Voldemort.""

Lily's eyes widened as she turned to her husband. Remus and Sirius both turned their attention to James. James nodded.

"He told me that he fashioned himself a new name that people would one day be scared to speak when he became "the greatest sorcerer in the world. I just told him that Dumbledore was the greatest. He then reminded me that Dumbledore had been driven away by the mere memory of him. I only repeated what Dumbledore said about he's never gone as long as people are loyal to him. That was when Fawkes flew in and dropped the sorting hat in my hand. He then asked how I survived that night. I told him what Dumbledore told me. I should have kept my big mouth shut, but after I told him, he called the basilisk. I didn't look at it until Fawkes ripped it's eyes out. Not knowing what else to do, I put the hat on my head. A few minutes later, I had a massive headache as something hit me on my head. I took off the hat and pulled a sword out of it."

"I've heard of pulling rabbits out of a hat, but this is ridiculous." Sirius said.

"What did I say about interrupting?" Harry reminded him.

"Sorry." Sirius apologized.

"So, now that the snake didn't have the lethal eyes, I was able to face it with the sword and I ran the sword through it's mouth. Unfortunately, my arm was in a bad position, and a fang pierced it."

All the adults turned deathly white. Lily looked ready to faint.

"I went back to Ginny and Riddle. Riddle started to taunt me about how I was dead. Fawkes flew next to me and started crying. The tears hit the wound and I was healed. Riddle shot a spell at Fawkes, but the phoenix dodged. When Riddle was preparing to kill me himself Fawkes dropped the diary in my hands. I then took the fang that had been lodged in my arm before I pulled it out, and stabbed the diary with it. Riddle disappeared and Ginny woke up. She told me that it was her who opened the Chamber, but she didn't mean to. She had tried to tell me, but Percy had been around. We got out of there. Since Pheonixes can carry heavy loads, Fawkes was able to lift Lockhart, Ron, Ginny, and me and fly us out of there. Lockhart had exclaimed how "this is just like magic!" When we got back to Myrtle's bathroom, she was upset that I didn't get killed. She told me that she was going to offer to share her toilet with me. We went up to McGonagall's office where we found the Weasleys, McGonagall, and Dumbledore. Dumbledore explained what had happened with Ginny. She wasn't expelled because we still had Riddle's diary. She just got a stern telling off from her father about trusting something that she couldn't see where it kept it's brains."

"Dumbledore then took Ron and I up to his office." He continued. "He explained how we had broken enough rules to get expelled, so it only seemed fit to give us special awards. After Ron had been excused to send the release papers to Azkaban for Hagrid, Dumbledore then turned to me and thanked me for my loyalty to him. Only that could have called Fawkes to me. I then told him that I couldn't help but to notice certain similarities between Riddle and myself. He explained then that Voldemort had transferred some powers to me. When I exclaimed that I should have been in Slytherin, he asked me why it had put me in Gryffindor. When I told him that it was because I had asked it to, he explained that it's not our abilities that make us who we are, but our choices. He then told me to take a closer look at the sword. I did, and it had the words "Godric Gryffindor" on it."

"Suddenly the door opened and Mr. Malfoy came in being followed by Dobby. Malfoy said that he had wanted to see for himself if Dumbledore had indeed returned. Apparently the governors had called Dumbledore back when Ginny was taken. While Dumbledore was telling Malfoy about the diary, Dobby was doing something weird. He was looking at me, pointing at the diary, then to his master, and then hitting himself on the head. I realized that Malfoy had planted the diary in Ginny's cauldron that day in Diagon Alley. So, after Malfoy and Dobby left, I asked for the diary. After Dumbledore gave it to me, and I put a little something in it, I went after Mr. Malfoy and gave him the diary. He threw it to Dobby and then threatened me. He walked off. I told Dobby to open the diary. I had placed a sock in it so that Dobby would be freed. I probably shouldn't have shown Mr. Malfoy that I was missing a sock, because he tried to curse me. I didn't realize what he was trying to do until last year. I just heard him say "Avada""

Lily looked like she was having a hard time breathing while the Marauders looked ready to apparate to the Malfoy's home to give Lucius Malfoy a piece of their minds.

"But Dobby stopped him. Malfoy just walked away after telling me that I was going to meet the "same, sticky end" as you two. Of course, now that doesn't mean much. Dobby asked how he could repay me. I told him to never save my life again. At the feast, Hermione came back; Justin apologized to me; exams were cancelled; Hagrid appeared late because Ron had used Errol; and Dumbledore announced that do to the backfired memory charm, Lockhart was leaving. Quite a few teachers joined in the cheering. On the train back, Ginny told us that Percy had gotten himself a girlfriend. Hermione then asked if the Dursleys would be proud after what I did. I just told her that they'd be furious that I wasn't killed. Ok. I'm done with year two."

"YOU **KILLED** A BASILISK?!" James exclaimed still clutching his wand from wanting to go jinx Malfoy.

"AND YOU WERE NEARLY KILLED BY MALFOY?!" Lily added before she nearly choked Harry with a hug.

"You are so lucky Fawkes and Dobby were there." Remus said with a LITTLE more self-control.

"Are you all right?" Sirius asked as James hugged his son.

"Of course I am. When it comes to THAT particular adventure." Harry said.

"I'm glad we didn't find the chamber." Sirius said.

"If only we had the map." James said. "that way we could add the chamber to it so future Marauders know where NOT to go."

"The basilisk is dead. The chamber is safe now." Harry said.

"What map?" Lily asked.

"The Marauder's Map." Remus said.

"It's a map we made in school." James explained. "These two idiots along with Wormtail lost it our seventh year."

"THAT'S what you four were arguing about." Lily said as she remembered.

Flashback

"You_ lost_ it? James asked them. "For all we know it could be in the trash."

"All that hard work." Remus said.

"Well, if you didn't have a personality change on us, we never would have used it." Sirius said to James.

The four (actually three because Peter was keeping quiet) started arguing.

"Silencio." A voice came from behind.

The boys kept arguing, but no sound was coming out. When they realized this, they turned to see Professor Peeler.

"Come with me boys." He told the foursome.

They obeyed.

0000

"Guys." James said finally breaking the ice halfway to Transfiguration. "I'm sorry."

"About what?" Remus asked.

"Everything. About yelling at you, not warning you about my changing personality…" James said.

"Actually," Remus said. "I'm not even sure _you_ had a warning about that part. We can blame that on hormones."

"Well, I'm sorry about blaming you." Sirius said to his best friend. "If it wasn't for you, I'd be friendless."

"Are we still mad at each other?" Peter asked confused.

"No Wormtail." Remus told him. "We're friends again. And friends forever."

The four boys shared a group hug.

End Flashback

"It was one of our more brilliant ideas." James said as Harry quietly pulled out the piece of parchment and winked at Sirius and Remus. "It would show where everyone was and what they were doing. It would also reveal passwords."

"If you were caught…" Lily started as Remus and Sirius saw the map, grinned, and winked back

"If we were caught, then we'd turn it off." James told her as Harry carefully placed the parchment under his father's wand. Lily and James were looking in each other's eyes as they spoke.

"What were the passwords again?" Sirius asked innocently. "I had forgotten them in Azkaban."

"The password to turn it off was "Mischief Managed." To turn it on, you said "I solemnly swear I am up to no good." Does that ring a bell?" James reminded his friend.

Harry, Sirius, and Remus started laughing after James had accidentally activated the map. Harry just waved the parchment at his father. The writing caught James' eyes. He grabbed it out of Harry's hand. His eyes widened as he saw the writing.

MESSRS. MOONY, WORMTAIL, PADFOOT, AND PRONGS

PURVEYORS OF AIDS TO MAGICAL MISCHIEF-MAKERS

ARE PROUD TO PRESENT

THE MARAUDER'S MAP

"Wh…Where in the world…?" James asked.

"That is a story for another time. Actually, it's next." Harry said. "Thanks for activating it Dad."

James then turned to Sirius. "You remembered. You just tricked me."

Sirius looked quite proud of himself.

"Do you mind if we add the Chamber?" James asked Harry.

"Not at all." Harry said. "It's your map."

James and Sirius ran to the kitchen and made the addition.

TBC


	4. Year 3

**Year Three**

It was story time again on day three of the story telling days.

KNOCK KNOCK

"Not during story time." Sirius complained as he prepared to conjure the popcorn.

Remus went and answered the door.

"Arthur! What brings you here?" Remus said loudly giving his friends time to hide.

"Dumbledore sent me." Mr. Weasley said. "I was on my way to work when I decided to stop by to give you the message. Order meeting on August 2nd at Hogwarts."

"Thanks for the heads up." Remus said.

"Have you read the Daily Prophet lately?" Arthur asked.

"No. I haven't had too much time. I just skim the front page."

"Good." Arthur said. "You won't believe the things they're saying about Dumbledore and Harry."

"They're calling them liars?" Remus guessed.

"I thought you said…"

"Arthur." Remus stated. "I was best friends with Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, and James Potter. I've learned to expect the ridiculous and impossible."

"True." Arthur said. "By the way, have you seen Harry? Ron received a cryptic letter from him."

"Yes. He's here. Harry!"

"Yes Pro…Remus?" Harry said coming out of hiding. "Hello Mr. Weasley."

"Hello Harry." Arthur said. "Glad to see you're doing well."

"Very." Harry told him.

"Ruff!"

The teen and the two other men turned to see Padfoot (the dog) come to the door to see what was taking so long.

"Snuffles." Harry sighed. "I know you can't wait, but you'll have to."

"Is that…" Arthur asked before looking around. "Black?"

The three of them looked at him in shock.

"Molly, Ron, and Dumbledore explained his innocence." Arthur said. "I still can not believe I harbored a murderer in my house."

"It's not your fault, Mr. Weasley." Harry said. "Few people knew Pettigrew was an animagus."

"True. Well, I have to get to work. Take care you three."

"Say Hi to Ron for me." Harry said.

0000

"Finally." Sirius said. "The best year."

"Only because you're in it." Remus said to the animagus.

"Okay. ." Harry said taking a breath before developing a smirk. "We had our first competent DADA professor and a mass murderer was out to get me. The End. On to Fourth."

Harry bursted out laughing at the shocked look on his godfather's face and the pale faces of his parents.

"I was GROSSLY misrepresented." Sirius defended himself.

"I'm sorry Sirius." Harry said laughing. "I had to do it. I needed SOME comic relief after the last story, and before tomorrow's. And today's."

"He's got you there Padfoot." Remus stated.

"Speak for yourself." Sirius said. "His description of you was his "first competent DADA professor". I was a mass murderer out to get him."

"How did things REALLY go?" Lily asked her son.

"Well," Harry answered. "The summer was uneventful until I got my letter. In it was my Hogsmeade form. However, the Dursley's said that they'd sign it only if I was on my best behavior when Uncle Vernon's sister, Marge, came. I was doing fairly well until she crossed the line."

"What did she do?" James asked.

"Well," Harry hesitated. "She compared Mum to…a female dog…"

"WHAT?!" the Potters yelled.

"And that Dad was an unemployed, no-good, bum. I accidentally inflated her for that."

"Good." Sirius said. Lily and James were red with anger.

"Wait a minute." Harry said as he remembered something. "There was one event over the summer. It was all over the news. I caught the last bit of the report. It was saying that the escaped convict, Black, was armed and dangerous. And a special hot-line had been set up to call if someone had spotted him."

Sirius whacked himself on the forehead.

"I was only dangerous to one person!"

"After I inflated Aunt Marge, I ran away. That night, I saw something in the bushes. It looked like a HUGE black dog. When I raised my wand to illuminate the area, the Knight Bus came. On the bus, I discovered that Sirius Black was a wizard and he had killed 13 people with one curse. And that he was a HUGE supporter of Voldemort."

'I WAS NOT!"

"We know that now!" Remus said to his friend.

"The bus took me to the Leaky Cauldron where I met Fudge face-to-face for the first time. He told me that no harm had been done. I stayed at the Leaky Cauldron for the rest of the summer. I got the rest of my supplies. Hagrid had sent me my book for Care for Magical Creatures for my birthday: The Monster Book of Monsters. A few weeks later, I ran into Ron and Hermione. Scabbers hadn't been fairing to well since the trip to Egypt he had with the rest of the Weasleys. Hermione also got herself a cat, Crookshanks. Cat should have eaten Scabbers."

"What do you have against that poor rat?" Lily asked.

"I'll explain later." Harry said. "Before I got on the train, Mr. Weasley took me aside and told me not to go looking for Black. He was originally going to tell me that Sirius was out to kill me, because he lost everything the day of the attack…"

"Yeah!" Sirius interrupted. "Because my best friend was killed an I was denied custody of my godson!"

"Sirius, we KNOW." Remus stated.

"But I had already overheard him talking about it to Mrs. Weasley. He just told me not to go looking for Sirius. On the train, I told Ron and Hermione what was going on. The only reason I told them was because the other occupant in the car was asleep. Well, about halfway there, the train stopped. A dementor had gotten on board. When it searched our car, I…I heard a woman scream my name. Then, I fainted."

Lily and James looked at each other in confusion.

"The other occupant, the new teacher, then chased the dementor away." Harry said with a grateful smile towards Remus.

Remus returned the smile.

"At the feast, Dumbledore told us to not get in the way of the dementors. The next day, was our first Divination lesson."

"…And?" James asked.

"According to my tea leaves that Ron read, I was going to suffer, but be happy about it. When, Trelawney read it…"

Lily, who had been taking a sip of water, started to choke.

"Mum?" Harry asked worriedly.

"Trelawney?" she asked when her throat was cleared. "Not Sybil Trelawney."

"Yeah. Did you know her?"

"We've met." She said. "I was just remembering when Dumbledore told us she was applying for the Devination's teaching position. Continue."

"She told me that she saw the Grim in my tea leaves. I then remembered that big black dog I saw when I was running away from the Dursleys. My next class, was Care for Magical Teachers. We had a new Care for Magical Creatures professor."

"So Kettleburn isn't there anymore?" James asked.

"Who's the new one?" Lily asked.

"Professor Hagrid."

"Hagrid's a teacher now?" James asked.

"Yes." Harry said. "Our first lesson was on Hippogriffs. When we approached it, Hagrid asked for volunteers with has back turned to us. I should NOT have stood near the front, because everyone else took a step back, so when Hagrid turned back around, it looked like I took a step forward. I went up to Buckbeak and bowed. He bowed back. The next thing I knew, Hagrid had lifted me up and placed me on Buckbeak's back. I went flying on it."

"How did you like it?" James asked with a smile.

"It was actually pretty cool." Harry told him.

"Good. How would you like your own?"

"My own what?"

"Hippogriff."

"Huh?"

"At Potter Ranch," James said. "We raise Hippogriffs and Winged Horses."

"Potter Ran…How many houses do we have?"

"A lot." The adults answered.

"Back to the story," Harry said still in a bit of shock over owning his own Hippogriff. "The rest of the class was okay until Malfoy insulted Buckbeak."

"Didn't Hagrid warn you guys to NEVER insult a Hippogriff?" James asked.

"Yes. Do you really think Malfoy was listening? Anyways, my next class was DADA, with Professor Lupin. He taught us about boggarts."

"Really?" James said looking at Remus.

"He asked me personally if I could point out why we had the upper hand in fighting a boggart. I said it was because there was so many of us. Because I answered the question correctly, he didn't make me fight it. For a good reason. He then told us that he once saw a boggart turn into half a slug."

"You told them about that?" Sirius asked Remus.

"Of course." Remus said.

"We had gone to clean up Godric Hollow before your mother and I got married." James explained. "In the room that would later be your nursery, we found a boggart. Sirius and I took it on together. We had watched "Attack of the Head-eating Slugs" the night before."

"Oh." Harry said in understanding. "Well, when it became my turn to face it, Professor Lupin stood in front of me. At the time, we couldn't tell what it was, but we later found that it was the full moon."

"That was very risky." James told the werewolf.

"Yes." Remus agreed, "But it was either that or let the class see a newly risen Voldemort. Of course, at the time, I didn't know that Harry had another fear."

"Who had the funniest boggart?" Lily asked.

"Neville." Remus and Harry both said.

"I helped him with it." Remus added.

"Neville is scared of Professor Snape." Harry explained.

"Oh no." Lily said when James' eyes lit up at the thought of what might have happened.

"When Neville said the incantation, Snape was dressed in Neville's grandmother's outfit."

"That is PERFECT!" Sirius said. "Moony. I always knew you were brilliant."

"I thank you." Remus said like he used to as a Marauder.

"Snape was the laughing stock of the school for the whole week." Harry added. "During the first Hogsmeade trip, I wasn't allowed to go because the Dursley never signed the form. So, I went to go talk to Professor Lupin. I asked why he didn't let me have a go at the boggart, and he explained what he just told you. I then informed him that I pictured the dementor."

"Impressive." James said. "What you fear the most is fear itself."

"That's what I said." Remus told him.

Harry nodded in confirmation. "I then told him that I heard a woman screaming before I fainted. He then informed me that dementors force us to relive our worst memories. I told him who I thought it was I heard."

"Who?" Lily asked.

"You." Harry told her. "You're last words."

She looked confused for a moment then hugged her son when realization hit her.

"I can't believe you remember." She told him.

"It's okay now." Harry said. "Professor Lupin then told me that when he first saw me, he recognized me immediately. And it wasn't by my scar."

"Was it by your good looks?" James asked.

"By his eyes." Remus said rolling his eyes as Sirius laughed. "When I first saw him I briefly thought you had done some time traveling behind my back. But when I saw Lily's eyes behind the glasses, I knew it was Harry."

"He told me that he knew Mum." Harry continued. "And that you were there for him at a time when no one else was."

"Yeah, sorry about that." James apologized to Remus.

"You never explained that." Harry told his ex-Professor.

"During the switch, we had suspected him." Sirius said. "Only you and Lily didn't seem to."

"Okay." Harry said before turning back to his mother. "He also told me that you were a "singularly gifted witch" and "an uncommonly kind woman" and had a "way of seeing the beauty in others". He really spoke highly of you."

"What did Moony say about me?" James asked.

"That you had a certain, "talent for trouble", that, rumor has it, you passed on to me."

"And…"

"And that I'm more like you guys than I knew."

"AND…"

"That's it at the time."

"MOONY! You said all those things about Lily, but only talked about me as a mischief maker?!"

"I didn't want to say too much." Remus told him.

"That Halloween, the Fat Lady disappeared thanks to Sirius." Harry continued.

"What did you do?" Lily asked

"I lost my temper with her when she didn't let me in." Sirius admitted.

"I'll say." Harry said. "But you didn't have to slash her painting."

"You slashed the Fat Lady's Portrait?" James asked.

"You know me." Sirius said. "I have a one-tracked-mind. I just wanted to ki…well, on with the story."

"What are you three hiding?" Lily asked.

"I'll explain when I get there." Harry said. "My next defense lesson was terrible."

"Moony." James warned.

"He wasn't there." Harry interrupted his father before turning to Remus. "But, why did you have to choose HIM as your substitute."

"I didn't. He volunteered."

"So you allowed Snape into the classroom to teach us about werewolves?"

"He didn't." James said.

"Yes. Hermione had figured it out after the lesson." Harry said. "She was the only one who did the essay Snape assigned. Then came time for the Quidditch match. Malfoy was faking his "injury" from the Hippogriff incident, so we played Hufflepuff. The weather was terrible. No one could see their hand in front of their eyes. And…dementors came to the game. Apparently, they were getting hungry."

"Harry…what happened?" James asked.

"Well, I had been over a 100 feet up looking for the snitch when it happened, and you know how I am with dementors. I fainted."

"100 feet in the air?" Lily asked.

"Yeah. First loss. Just as I fell, Diggory…."

Harry paused as he thought about the Hufflepuff champion he had kind of made friends with, and looked like he was trying to keep from crying. Lily and James thought it was because of the loss, but Sirius and Remus knew better.

"It's not your fault. The weather wasn't on your side. And the dementors…" James stated.

"That's not what's bothering him." Remus interrupted. "But that's another story."

"Why don't you continue for a while?" Sirius suggested to Remus as he held his arms for Harry to come to him.

Not really thinking, Harry did just that.

"It's going to be alright." Sirius whispered to Harry as he hugged his godson.

"It's my fault." Harry whispered.

"No it's not." Sirius told him

"After Harry fell," Remus picked up. "Cedric Diggory, the Hufflepuff seeker, caught the snitch. And the wind blew Harry's broom to the Whomping Willow."

"Oh no." Lily said covering her mouth and looking at her son.

"He then approached me to teach him how to repeal dementors."

"You taught him the Patronus at 13?" Lily asked remember when she learned it at 17.

"Yes." Remus said. "And he did quite well I might say."

"QUITE?" Sirius said still hugging Harry. "If you call being able…"

"Harry wants to go in order of events." Remus interrupted. "We shall do just that."

"Fine. Professor." Sirius said rolling his eyes trying to add some humor to make Harry laugh. It did just the trick. He heard a soft laugh from his godson.

"I believe Christmas was the next big thing." Remus said.

"No." Harry said quietly starring at nothing in particular. "It was the next Hogsmeade weekend. I tried sneaking there by the cloak, but Fred and George caught me. That was when I was given the map. They told me that they nicked it from Filch their first year. Then they told me to go by way of the one-eyed witch."

"Ah yes." James said. "I loved that passage."

"When I got to Hogsmeade, I found Malfoy and his goons teasing Ron and Hermione. So, underneath my cloak, I gave them good reason to believe that the Shrieking Shack was the most haunted place in Britain."

"Good for you." Sirius said.

"In Hogsmeade, we saw the Minister go into Rosemertha's pub. We followed him, Hagrid, Rosemertha, and Professor McGonagall and…I found out more about Sirius."

"Like what?" Lily asked.

"How he and Dad were the best of friends." Harry continued. "And how he was my godfather. How he destroyed Pettigrew, leaving nothing but a finger…"

"They also mentioned how I was believed to be the secret keeper?" Sirius asked.

Harry nodded.

"I can't believe how much I hated you after I heard that." He whispered. "I'm sorry."

"No Harry." Sirius said hugging Harry. "I'M sorry. I never should have suggested the switch."

"What's done is done." Remus said. "And I believe, that Christmas, Harry got a new broomstick."

"A Firebolt." Harry said. "It was the newest model."

"Still is." Remus told them.

"Wicked." James said. "One day, I'll have to try it out."

"Fastest on the market." Sirius said with a Marauder grin.

"Too bad it was confiscated and stripped." Harry said.

"WHAT? WHY?" James asked.

"Because I sent it to Harry." Sirius said. "And even though I didn't sign my name, they still suspected I sent it. And remember? I was supposed to be out to kill Harry."

"Then I believe," Remus said knowing that if they stayed on the broom subject much longer, James would jump McGonagall, "Came time for our lessons. As I said earlier, he did quite well."

"Too bad about the underage law." Sirius said. "Harry could show you what all he's learned."

"He can do that during the school year." Remus said.

"When I was trying," Harry said. "I kept hearing Mum scream. Except for one time. That time, it was a man. It was you, Dad. You were telling Mum to take me and run."

"Go to them." Sirius whispered in Harry's ear.

Harry obeyed and went into his father's arms.

"It's okay." James said hugging his son. "It's not your fault."

"He is going to be so sick of hearing that." Sirius whispered.

"The third time, he actually did it." Remus stated. "It wasn't corporeal. But it did the trick."

James and Lily looked at their son is awe.

"Do you really think that memory was real?" Harry asked Remus. "Now that I know you were part of my past."

"Yes." Remus said. "I do."

"What was it?" James asked.

"You two just talking to me." Harry said.

Lily hugged her son.

"Anyways," Harry said. "I got my broom back. And…oh yeah. I was looking at the map one night, when I saw a name I did not expect to see. So, I went out to explore. I didn't see who's name I saw, but I did get caught by Snape. I managed to turn off the map in time. But, Snape knew that there was something about it, so he tried to activate it. Other writing showed up."

"What did it say?" James asked.

"Mr. Moony presents his compliments to Professor Snape and begs him to keep his abnormally large nose out of other people's business." Remus said. "I had run into them in the hall."

James snickered while Lily covered her mouth to keep from laughing.

Harry, Remus, and Sirius smiled.

"Then, these words appeared under it: "Mr. Prongs agrees with Mr. Moony and would like to add that Professor Snape is an ugly git."" Harry added

James was in full laughter now while Lily was having a harder time to keep from laughing.

"Mr. Padfoot would like to register his astonishment that an idiot like that ever became a Professor." Sirius quoted himself. "Moony told me the day before you came back."

Everyone was laughing now.

James finally stopped to think.

"What did Mr. Wormtail say?"

The werewolf, teen, and convict looked at each other as to debate who should tell. Remus volunteered.

"Mr. Wormtail bids Professor Snape good day and advises him to wash his hair, the slimeball."

"Fred and George told me that they owe them so much. And that was when Remus showed up. Do you want to tell them what you did?"

"Did you give my son detention?" Lily asked sweetly.

"No." Remus said. "I confiscated the map."

"YOU DID WHAT?!" James asked.

"You should be grateful." Sirius said. "If he didn't…well, since we're going in order, I'll wait."

"Well, one night, after Ron and Hermione had a fight over whether or not Crookshanks killed Scabbers, I was woken up by a scream. Apparently, a certain mass murderer was taking a knife to my best friend."

"I wasn't aiming for him!" Sirius defended "I was after someone else."

"In Ron's bed?" Lily asked.

"That will make sense later." Remus stated.

"After one of my Divination lessons, I went back up to give something to Trelawney. One of her Crystal Balls had fallen down the stairs, after Hermione knocked it off the stand. Then, she started acting…weirder than usual. Her eyes were rolled back and her voice was deep."

"What did she say?" James asked.

"_The Dark Lord lies alone and friendless, abandoned by his followers. His servant has been chained these twelve years. Tonight, before…midnight…the servant will break free and set out to rejoin his master. The Dark Lord will rise again with his servant's aid, greater and more terrible than ever he was. Tonight…before midnight…the servant…will set out…to rejoin…his master…_"

"That makes no sense." James said.

"Doesn't it?" Remus asked.

"Makes less since than her first." James retorted.

"You know what her first one was?" Harry asked.

"That is a story for another day." Sirius stated. "MUCH later."

"That night, we went over to Hagrid's. Buckbeak had been sentenced to death because of what happened with Malfoy. On our way, Hermione punched Malfoy."

"I knew that girl was smart." Sirius said.

"At Hagrid's we found Scabbers." Harry stated. "When we saw the Minister, Dumbledore, and the executioner come, we left out the back. As we hid in the pumpkin patch for a few minutes, we heard something in the forest behind us. I wonder what would have happened if we had checked it out."

"Why do you say that?" Lily asked.

"Later." Harry said. "We went up to the hill and heard the ax come down. Suddenly, Scabbers bit Ron. He made a run for the Whomping Willow. We yelled at Ron to move, but he was frozen in fear as he looked behind us. Apparently, the Grim was right behind us. The large dog made a jump at Ron and dragged him under the tree. By the way, thank you SOOO much for turning off the Willow."

"I never…oops." Sirius said.

"Hermione and I had fun riding the branches." Harry said. "Anyways, the tunnel led to the Shrieking Shack. There, we found Ron on the bed looking at Sirius. When I saw him…I kind of jumped him. Luckily, Remus came to stop me from killing Sirius with my bare hands."

"I looked at the map." Remus explained. "And I saw what Harry had seen that night I confiscated the map."

"Would you three PLEASE tell us what you are keeping from us?" James said.

"The Weasley's had Scabbers for 12 years." Harry told his parents.

"You don't mean…" Lily started.

"Scabbers had another name, didn't he?" James added. "I was hoping it was a different rat."

"Yes." Harry said. "At first, we refused to believe it. Hermione told Ron and me about Professor Lupin being a werewolf. Just as they were about to explain themselves, we were interrupted by Snape. Hermione and I knocked him unconscious."

"You attacked a teacher?" Lily asked.

"I wanted to hear the story and Snape wasn't going to allow it. Sirius explained how he had seen Scabbers in the picture of the Weasley family in the Daily Prophet. They had won some contest that summer and went to Egypt to visit Bill Weasley. Sirius had recognized him. Scabbers was missing a toe. Sirius and Remus then forced Scabbers…does Mum know?"

"Yes." The Marauders said.

"They forced him to transform back into his human self: Peter Pettigrew. I should have let you two kill him."

"But you were right not to." Remus said taking Harry by the shoulder.

"He told us that he didn't think you two would want us to be murderers just for you." Sirius explained.

"Remus is correct, Harry." Lily said hugging Harry. "We wouldn't have wanted them to become murderers."

"Everything seemed to be perfect." Harry said. "Pettigrew was going to be turned in or killed if he tried to run, and Sirius was going to be free. He even offered me a home. We just overlooked one small tiny detail."

"What was that?" Lily asked.

"The moon." Harry said. "It was full."

James and Lily paled and looked at Remus.

"In all the confusion with Peter and Sirius, I had forgotten to take the Wolfsbane." Remus explained.

"Sirius tried to hold Remus off after the transformation and Pettigrew escaped." Harry said. "Then we heard another werewolf in the distance. Remus went after it."

"Really?" Remus asked.

"Don't you remember?"

"The only times when I could remember the transformations are when I've taken the wolfsbane or when I was surrounded by my friends."

"Well, after you left, the dementors came. They almost gave Sirius and me the kiss."

"WHAT?!" both Potter adults screamed.

"But," Harry said "I saw a figure across the lake. It looked like a glowing stag."

James was baffled.

"I recognized it as a Patronus." Harry said. "I glimpsed the person who conjured it. It…it looked like you Dad."

"That's…that's impossible." James said. "Unless somehow my Dad came back from the dead before me…"

"I woke up in the Hospital Wing. Snape had woken up and told everyone a huge lie about how Ron, Hermione, and I were bewitched by Professor Lupin and Sirius. Only Dumbledore had seemed to believe us. They were going to give Sirius the kiss. So, Dumbledore told Hermione that she must not be seen and how more than one innocent life may be spared and three turns should do it. I was confused. She then took something from around her neck and put it over mine. After she turned it three times, it was daylight."

"A time turner." Remus said. "I was wondering how she managed to take all of those classes at once."

"That's what I was talking about earlier." Harry said. "When I asked what would have happened if we had explored that noise. We were hearing me and Hermione getting ready to rescue Buckbeak. When we saw the executioner raise his ax, it was just in anger that he didn't get to kill the Hippogriff. We saw Snape and Professor Lupin go in through the tunnel. Then we saw everyone come out an hour later. That was when we saw Professor Lupin change again. Hermione then gave a werewolf howl. Turns out, it had been her. We made a run for it."

"That was very foolish." Remus said.

"If you didn't bite me before, then it would have been then. Either way, it was risky." Harry defended. "After we lost you, we saw the dementors attack me and Sirius. I looked around for Dad, but he never showed up. That was when it hit me. I wasn't seeing Dad. So, I whipped out my wand, and performed the Patronus charm."

"And if you had seen a stag earlier…" Lily said. "You were able to produce a corporeal patronus at the age of thirteen!"

"See what I was talking about earlier?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah." James said. "QUITE is an understatement."

"Hermione and I flew Buckbeak to the top most tower where Sirius was being held. When then gave Sirius the Hippogriff and he flew off into the moonlight. Away from the dementors. Snape was NOT happy."

"I can imagine." James said.

"When we got back to the Hospital Wing, we entered and saw ourselves disappear. Poor Ron was SO confused how we moved positions. We just asked what he was talking about. On the train back, we found a small owl rapping at the window. Attached was a note from Sirius. I still have it, hidden, but it explained how he sent me the Firebolt and that it had been him I saw the night I ran away. He also said that Ron could keep the owl and he gave me permission to go to Hogsmeade."

"Thanks Padfoot." James thanked his best friend. "And you too Moony."

"Since then, I've been threatening the Durlsey's with him. They know that he's an escaped convict accused of murder." Harry said.

"What happened to Remus?" James asked.

"Snape decided to let it slip about my condition." Remus said. "I retired before the parents had a chance to write."

"Well," Lily said. "Now you know the truth."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"Let's save that bit of news for after next year's story." Remus said. "Until then, I believe we have to begin planning for the next Order meeting."

TBC


	5. Year 4

A/N: I am SO sorry it took me this long to update. Thank you for waiting patiently. It's just I've been busy with school (It's like teachers banded together and decided to make everything due the week before Spring Break). Also, I found during my first draft of this chapter, the thickest of the four books, had the shortest chapter. That didn't seem right, so I've been going through it to see what needed to be added. Enjoy.

**Year Four**

Harry did NOT want to get out of bed today. He laid in bed thinking about the story he was going to tell today. It had been a few days since the last story thanks to Sirius and Remus. They knew that this would be the hardest for Harry. But, the teen knew he couldn't put it off any longer.

"HARRY! BREAKFAST!" Lily's voice came from the kitchen.

Harry slowly got out of bed. It was now or never.

"Good morning Love." Lily said placing the pile of pancakes in front of Harry.

"Morning." Harry said stifling a laugh at Sirius who was attacking his own stack. "Sirius, how many pancakes have you had?"

"This is my third helping." Sirius said with his mouth full.

Harry started to eat his own breakfast.

"Funny." Remus stated. "I counted five."

Sirius shot him a look before swallowing.

"Moony. I have two words: Melissa. Oxford."

"Spica. Jenkins." Remus retorted.

Sirius stuck his tongue out at the werewolf.

"Professor. Peeler." Remus added.

"We never DID prank that guy. Did we?"

"No." James and Remus said.

Sirius started pouting. "We need to find him and prank him."

"Okay you two." James said to his single friends. "Calm down. What's the plan for today?"

"Last year's story." Harry stated.

Everyone looked at him.

"Are you sure?" Sirius asked.

"It's now or never." Harry said. "And I think I owe Mum and Dad an explanation about why I was so down during the Quidditch match against Hufflepuff."

"Maybe we can get Ron and Hermione to come to help tell the story." Remus thought out loud.

"No." Harry said finishing his breakfast. "I have to do this myself. Okay. I'm done with breakfast."

"Okay." Lily said. "Let's go to the living room."

0000

"The summer started like any other summer. I went to the Dursleys, and did my homework in secret. One day, the Dursleys got a letter. The envelope was covered in stamps. The Weasleys had decided to write the Dursleys to get permission to take me to the Quidditch World Cup. Mr. Weasley had managed to get tickets. I did manage to get permission after stating that I was going to write Sirius. You see, I had woken up that morning with my scar hurting after a weird dream. Voldemort was talking to Wormtail about something and had murdered a man who had been listening."

"So you went to the World Cup?" James asked. Somehow he knew that the dream would reappear later in the story.

"Yes. Ireland vs. Bulgaria in Britain. We had so much fun. Ireland won, but the Bulgarian seeker, Viktor Krum, got the snitch. I even got to meet him. It wasn't at the match though."

"Krum? I think my great-grandfather played against him during a match." James said.

"Yeah." Harry said. "Krum said that his father said that. I have the letter in my trunk."

"Wait a minute. You're _good_ _friends_ with the Bulgarian seeker?" James asked.

"How did you get to meet him if it wasn't at the Cup?" Lily asked.

"That's coming up." Harry said. "Everything was going great until the night. A bunch of Death Eaters had decided to make some sport during the event. Luckily, no one was killed. Just frightened. Even though, Ron, Hermione, and I were nearly stunned. We were trying to run, but…we were in the wrong place at the wrong time. My wand had been stolen, and I was trying to look for it. Suddenly, I saw someone. He held up a wand and shouted something. A flash of light went up to the air and exploded like a firework. A skull appeared in the sky and a snake was coming from its mouth."

"The Dark Mark." James whispered remembering when he saw it over his parents.

"The person who conjured it was using it to scare the Death Eaters. They had escaped by lying. The person who conjured the mark was still loyal to Voldemort and had suffered after my defeating of him." Harry explained. "And, Mr. Crouch's elf, Winky, was found with my wand. When Crouch performed something with my wand, I guess it showed the last spell that the wand was used for, it showed the Dark Mark."

"So whoever stole your wand used it to conjure the Dark Mark?" Lily asked.

Harry nodded.

"Crouch then sacked his house-elf. Hermione was never the same since. She started spew, I mean, the 'Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare', when she learned that Hogwarts had house-elves."

Sirius, Lily, and James looked at each other thinking about the Potter elves.

"When we got to Hogwarts," Harry continued. "Dumbledore announced that Hogwarts was going to be hosting the Tri-Wizard Tournament. The other two schools were Durmstrang and Beauxbatons. Our new DADA professor was supp… Professor Moody."

"The Tri-Wizard Tournament?" Lily asked in amazement.

"Moody?" James asked. "Alastor Moody? Wooden leg, fake eye, shouts "constant viliagance" A LOT."

"That's the one." Harry said.

"I nearly killed him once." James said.

"You didn't." Harry said to his father in amazement.

"Yes." James told him. "I was the day after your mother told me she was pregnant with you. Moody was testing my skills in a duel and I was starting to fail. Sirius then told me to imagine he's a death eater after Lily. Well, I knew that it wouldn't be only Lily, but you as well."

"Your father showed no mercy." Sirius stated. "And Moody liked it."

"If I recall correctly, you nearly killed him as well during YOUR test." James said.

"I was merely following your advice." Sirius said.

"He taught us about the Unforgivables. He even showed us." Harry continued

"He SHOWED you the Unforgivables?" Lily asked.

"Yes. That was when I found out HOW you died."

"You poor thing." Lily said hugging her son.

"Can we do this AFTER it gets worse."

"It gets worse?" Lily asked.

"Well," Harry said. "When it came time for the names to be drawn for the tournament, Fleur Delacour was chosen for Beauxbatons, Viktor Krum was chosen for Durmstrang, C…Cedric Diggory… was chosen for Hogwarts, and a Death Eater who had snuck into the school under Dumbledore's nose put my name in for a made-up school."

"Your name was drawn?" James asked.

Harry nodded.

"What kinds of things were you put through?" James asked knowing what all the contests consisted of.

"My friendship with Ron was put to the test." Harry said. "He thought I had put my name in the goblet myself. We made up after the First Task. When the Champions' wands were weighed, I met Rita Skeeter."

"I remember her." Remus said. "Got on my nerves after James and Lily died and Sirius was put in Azkaban."

"I remember her too." Lily added. "Wasn't she just a few years younger than us?"

"Yeah." Sirius said. "What a gossip."

"She wrote an article about me." Harry said.

"Load of hogwash." Remus said. "She didn't even get his age right."

I'm so glad Hermione caught her" Harry said.

"What do you mean?" Sirius asked.

"I'll explain later." Harry said. "Anyways, Hagrid showed me what the First Task was. The day after I found out, I went to tell Diggory. I had see Karkaroff and Madame Maxime there, so I knew the other champions know. After I told Cedric, I ran into Malfoy. He was giving me a hard time. I called him pathetic and walked away to avoid a fight. The next thing I knew, I heard Moody shouting at Malfoy. I turned around, and in Malfoy's place, stood a small white ferret. Moody went over to the ferret and said that "that should teach you not to curse someone with their back turned." He started levitating it and bouncing it around. Too bad McGonagall came and asked Moody what he was doing."

"What was Alastor's response?" Remus asked as Sirius and James laughed their heads off.

"'Teaching.'" Harry quoted. "She then asked if that was a student. He responded that "technically, it's a ferret." She then transformed Malfoy back. I liked him better as a ferret."

"What was the First Task?" Lily asked.

"Well," Harry hesitated remembering her reaction to Norbert. "I had NO say in it whatsoever. And…Dumbledore warned us that the tests were not for the faint hearted…"

"Harry." Lily warned.

"We had to get a golden egg." Harry said.

"That's not too bad." James stated.

"That was guarded by a dragon." Harry added.

"A DRAGON?" Lily asked horrified.

"What type?" James asked.

"Each champion got a different type." Harry explained. "Krum got the Chinese Fireball; Fleur got the Welsh Green; Cedric got Swedish Short-Snout; and I got the Hungarian Horntail."

"A HUNGARIAN HORNTAIL?!" Both Potters yelled.

"I wish I had a book on dragons." James sighed.

"I have something." Harry said getting up to go to his trunk.

He went and grabbed his copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. When he came back, he gave it to his father.

"Ron and I share this copy." Harry explained the extra writing as James looked up "Hungarian Horntail" under "Dragon".

"I see you wrote about it." James said when he came to the page. "And you agree with Scamander about the Horntail being the most dangerous."

"MOST DANGEROUS!" Lily repeated as she grabbed the book to see for herself.

"Yeah. My Firebolt was nearly burned to a crisp. I summoned it and used my Quidditch skills to out fly the dragon and get the egg. It was no different than dodging a fire-breathing bludger. I tied for first with Viktor."

"A FIFTY FEET FIRE-BREATHING RANGE!" Lily yelled as she read and squeezed her son in a hug.

"I also see you changed the Norwegian Ridgeback to "Baby Norbert." Clever." James added

"Ron's idea." Harry explained as James flipped through the book to read Harry and Ron's notes.

"Awww." James sighed when he got to page 41. "That's sweet."

"What?" Harry asked as his father showed his friends.

"_My name is Gregory Goyle and I smell?_" Sirius read.

"Not that." James said. The one on page forty ONE."

"_Werewolfs aren't all bad."_ Sirius read out loud. "Too true."

"You're lucky this is your copy. Madam Pince would have your head if you wrote in one of her precious books." Remus stated.

"Inside the egg, held a clue to the Second Task." Harry continued. "When I opened it, it was the sound of something screeching. Ron thought I'd have to attack Percy in the shower. One evening, when Ron and I were on our way back to the Common Room, Hermione came running up saying that we had to see something. She had gone to the kitchens and found Dobby."

"Dobby?" the adults asked.

"That house-elf that tried to kill you?" James asked.

"The same. Dumbledore had agreed to pay him and give him sick leave and days off. His favorite article of clothing is socks. I gave him a pair for Christmas."

"That's…nice." Lily said.

"When it came closer to Christmas, we were told that the Yule Ball was a tradition for the Tri-Wizard Tournament. During our dance lesson, Ron had been chosen to demonstrate."

"Who was his dance partner?" Sirius asked.

"Professor McGonagall." Harry laughed at the memory.

"Poor Ron. I bet his brothers aren't letting him live that down." Remus said as Sirius laughed his head off.

"No." Harry said as he realized James wasn't laughing. He had found something interesting on the wall.

"What is it Dad?"

"Nothing." James said. "Who did you take to the Ball?"

James didn't want to admit in front of his best friends that McGonagall had given him private dance lessons when he was a kid younger than Harry. The joys of having Charles and Elizabeth Potter for parents.

"Pavarti Patil. I had a crush on Cho Chang, but Cedric beat me to her. By the time I asked Pavarti, Ron and I were desperate. Every other girl had dates."

"Why did you procrastinate?" Remus asked.

"I didn't know how to get a date." Harry admitted.

"A Potter having trouble asking a girl for a date?" Lily asked. "Pinch me. I MUST be dreaming."

"Ha ha." James said sarcastically.

"Your father was very…persistent when it came to getting me to go on a date with him." Lily explained to Harry.

"I wish Dad had been there to help." Harry said.

"There will be other balls." James said before turning to his friends. "Remember the Graduation Ball?"

"I thought that was the reception." Lily said.

"That's just another name so it doesn't scare the students." Remus said. "And besides, the Head Boy and Girl can plan balls for Halloween, Valentine's Day, and even Christmas."

"My parents were Heads." James said. "And they planed a Christmas ball. That year hit the school record of boys going back home for Christmas."

"Ron went with Pavarti's sister, Padma. Hermione went with…Viktor Krum." Harry continued.

"No WAY!" Sirius said.

"Way." Harry said. "Ron was SO jealous after that. He started lecturing her about fraternizing with the enemy. She was so angry with him. I found out a few weeks ago that she had wanted to go with Ron, but Krum got to her first."

"Really?" Lily asked.

"Yes. We have everything planned. Anyways, during the ball, Ron and I found out that Hagrid is a half-giant. He was admitting it to Madam Maxime. She's one too. A few weeks later, there was an article about it written by Rita Skeeter about Hagrid. Anyways, after the Ball, Cedric gave me a hint about the egg's clue. Apparently, I was supposed to take a bath with it. He told me to go on and use the Prefects bathroom. I'm going to wear swim trunks in the bathtub from now on."

"Why?" James asked.

"Two words: Moaning. Myrtle." Harry said shivering at the memory. "She started…flirting with me. Anyways, the screeching had been the sound of merpeople. Apparently, the merpeople will take something that we would miss most and hold them for an hour. The object of the task is to retrieve your hostage before the hour was up. Mine was Ron, Viktor's was Hermione, Cedric's was Cho, and Fleur's was her little sister."

"How did you do it?" Lily asked. "I doubt Petunia gave you swimming instructions."

"I used Gillyweed." Harry explained. "Dobby gave it to me. I was the first to reach the hostages."

"But you the last to come up." Remus said remembering what Dumbledore had told him.

"I wanted to make sure all of the hostages were saved. Fleur never showed up, so I saved her sister as well as Ron. Cedric and Viktor got there later. I tied for first with Cedric because of "Moral Fiber"."

His parents hugged him. Harry didn't know if it had been just him, or if the hug seemed tighter.

"A few weeks later, who should show up, but our very own Padfoot"

"I was camped out in a cave just outside of Hogsmeade." Sirius explained. "I had a small word with Harry about Crouch and Karkaroff."

"Right. Anyways, Rita Skeeter wrote about Hermione next. Ron said that Skeeter described Hermione as some type of "Scarlet Woman." The look Hermione gave him was classic."

"Rita DIDN'T'!" Lily exclaimed.

"Hermione was bent on revenge after that. Skeeter was writing about how Hermione had been "toying with my affections"."

"That's horrible!" Lily said.

"Also, I found Barty Crouch in the Forbidden Forest. He was acting weird. Like, he was fighting the Imperious Curse."

"Odd." James said.

"It will make sense later." Sirius said before turning to Remus. "Have you noticed he's starting to rush things?"

"Yes." Remus whispered back. "He wants to get this over with as soon as possible."

"I went to go get Dumbledore. He and Moody went to go check it out. That was when I looked in his pensieve. I had no clue what it was. I just saw a few trials. One was of Crouch's son's trial. He was tried as a death eater who was involved of torturing Neville's parents."

"The good news is," Remus said. "I heard a rumor that they are up."

"That is good." Lily said.

"The third task was a maze." Harry continued wanting to get this over with. "Cedric and I went in a the same time. About what seemed forever, I heard a scream. It was Fleur. She had been attacked. I won't go into too much detail because I want to get this over with. I then found Krum attacking Cedric. I later found out he had been under the Imperious Curse. I managed to save Cedric by stunning Krum. We sent the sparks up for the judges to get him out of the maze. Cedric and I got to the cup at the same time."

Harry paused as he tried to stay strong.

"Harry?" James asked.

"I never should have…told him that we should….take it together." Harry whispered as tears developed in his eyes. "The cup was a…. portkey. It took us… to a…. graveyard. I heard someone say… "Kill the spare."…Before I… knew it…a…green light…hit…Cedric."

Remus, James, and Lily gasped.

"I was then bound and gagged by…Pettigrew. There were a cauldron there. Wormtail then put some bones in the potion. Then he…. cut off his hand. Then, he stabbed me in the arm…. And….and…. took some… of my….blood."

Harry felt Lily and James' arms tightening around him.

"Take your time." James whispered. "We're here."

"Voldemort…came back." Harry whispered as the tears started to stream down his face. "He called his death eaters and gave Wormtail a silver hand to replace the other. We then dueled. Suddenly,…. the wands connected. Dumbledore said it was "Priori Incantatem." When that happened a shadow of… Cedric appeared. Then an old man from the dream I had the summer before, Bertha Jorkins, and…you two. Mum said to break the connection and that you would distract Voldemort. Diggory then told me to take his… body back to his parents. I broke the connection and made a run for Cedric's…body. I… then summoned the Portkey and… we went home."

"Oh Harry." Lily sighed.

"It gets worse. Moody took me to his office. He started questioning me about what had happened. Suddenly, he lifted his wand and…attempted to kill me. Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape got there just in time."

"MOODY TRIED TO KILL YOU?!" James exploded.

"He wasn't the real Mad-Eye Moody." Harry finally told. "He was really Barty Crouch Jr. in disguise. He explained, under vertiserum, how he had attacked the real Moody and how he put my name in the Goblet of Fire. He also told us how he had escaped Azkaban with Crouch Sr.'s help and how he killed his father…and…turned the cup into a Portkey."

He couldn't continue. The memory of what had happened was still strong. He felt lucky to even get passed Cedric's death

"Crouch Jr. was given the kiss the next morning." Sirius continued. "Under Fudge's orders. Personally, I don't think Fudge wanted the world to hear his testimony of what had happened. He's STILL covering it up."

"And what Harry gave us was a condensed version." Sirius added after a small pause. "I had gone to the third task and spent the time in Hagrid's pumpkin patch. Poor Minnie looked confused when she came out to get me. She brought me to Dumbledore's office and told me to stay and that Dumbledore will be with me shortly. I saw her shake her head as she closed the door."

"Don't worry Harry. Everything will be just fine." Lily comforted her son.

"But even if he is defeated, you guys came back. What's to stop him?" Harry voiced one of his fears.

"Sirius and Remus are the only ones who know the potion." James told him.

"When James and Lily woke up," Remus told Harry, "I ripped the specific potion from the book, tore it up, and tossed it in the fire. I then hid the book."

"And I messed up an ingredient." Sirius added. "To tell you the truth, I can't remember what I did wrong."

James and Harry laughed while Lily and Remus rolled their eyes and shook there heads.

"Well Harry. It's time for bed." Lily told her son.

Harry and Sirius groaned.

"What are you groaning about?" James asked his best friend.

"Habit."

"It might help you if you took some dreamless-sleep potion" Remus told Harry.

"Thanks Pro-I mean Remus."

"You better get used to calling me Professor Lupin again." Remus said with a grin.

"You mean…"

Remus nodded.

"YES!"

"I'm glad you approve." Remus said as Harry hugged him. "But don't think I'll go easy on you."

"This year will make up for last year." Harry said before turning to his parents and godfather. "You three are coming to teaching during the full moon. Aren't you?"

"You mother is." James said. "I'm just tagging along for old time sake. And I have no where else to go."

"C'mon Prongs." Remus teased. "Why won't you teach?"

"Because unlike SOMEONE I know, I remember a certain promise we made. What was it? Oh yeah: _I solemnly swear I shall not teach unless it is under dire circumstances or teaching pranks and/or animagi training_."

"Well excuse me." Remus retorted. "But there was a mass murderer out to get a student and I was the closest to him when I first taught. Dumbledore approached me because I knew how Sirius thought."

"How do you explain THIS year?" James asked.

"Don't flatter yourself Moony." Sirius told the werewolf.

"Okay. I understood you the best." Remus corrected himself.

"Nope." Sirius said propping his feet on the coffee table. "That title goes to Spica."

"Spica and Padfoot sitting in a tree…" James started to tease like in second year.

Sirius' response was throwing a pillow at James.

"This is going to be one fun year." Lily said. "By the way, how did Hermione get back at Rita?"

"She found out the reporter's secret." Harry said. "We have ANOTHER unregistered animagus running around."

"So simple and yet so brilliant." Sirius said.

"What animal is she?" James asked.

"A beetle." Harry told her.

"Figures." Lily said.

"Hermione told her that she'll keep quiet if Rita does." Harry added.

"It's worked so far." Remus said after he grabbed a copy of the Daily Prophet. "Nothing by Rita. Just something on how Harry is an insane boy looking for attention and Dumbledore is trying to get Fudge's job."

"WHAT?!" Everyone yelled.

"Relax." Remus said. "Once Voldemort's out in the open, nobody will pay any attention. We just have to ignore it."

The End


End file.
